historical

historical
    adj 1: of or relating to the study of history; "historical
           scholars"; "a historical perspective" [ant:
           {ahistorical}]
    2: having once lived or existed or taken place in the real world
       as distinct from being legendary; "the historical Jesus";
       "doubt that a historical Camelot every existed"; "actual
       historical events"
    3: belonging to the past; of what is important or famous in the
       past; "historic victories"; "historical (or historic) times";
       "a historical character" [syn: {historic}, {historical}]
    4: used of the study of a phenomenon (especially language) as it
       changes through time; "diachronic linguistics" [syn:
       {diachronic}, {historical}] [ant: {synchronic}]
    

historic \his*tor"ic\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]k), historical
\his*tor"ic*al\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]*kal), a. [L. historicus, Gr.
   "istoriko`s: cf. F. historique. See {History}.]
   Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events;
   as, an historical poem; the historic page. --
   {His*tor"ic*al*ness}, n. -- {His*to*ric"i*ty}, n.
   [1913 Webster]

         There warriors frowning in historic brass. --Pope.
   [1913 Webster]

   2. having once lived, existed, or taken place in the real
      world; -- contrasted with {legendary}; as, the historical
      Jesus; doubt that a historical Camelot every existed;
      actual historical events.
      [WordNet 1.5]

   3. Belonging to the past; as, historical (or historic) times;
      a historical character.
      [WordNet 1.5]

   4. Within the period of time recorded in written documents;
      as, within historic times. Opposite of {prehistoric}.

   Syn: diachronic.
        [WordNet 1.5]

   5. (Linguistics) Same as {diachronic}. {synchronic}
      [WordNet 1.5]

   {Historical painting}, that branch of painting which
      represents the events of history.

   {Historical sense}, that meaning of a passage which is
      deduced from the circumstances of time, place, etc., under
      which it was written.

   {The historic sense}, the capacity to conceive and represent
      the unity and significance of a past era or age.
      [1913 Webster]
    

78 Moby Thesaurus words for "historical":
      absolute, actual, admitting no question, ascertained, attested,
      authentic, authenticated, autobiographical, biographical,
      categorically true, certain, certified, chronologic, confirmable,
      confirmed, corroborated, de facto, demonstrable, demonstratable,
      demonstrated, determined, documentary, documented, effectual,
      established, factual, for real, genuine, hagiographic, historic,
      historied, historiographic, honest-to-God, inappealable,
      incontestable, incontrovertible, indisputable, indubitable,
      irrefragable, irrefutable, legendary, martyrologic, not in error,
      objectively true, positive, provable, proved, real, recorded,
      reliable, self-evident, substantial, substantiated, sure-enough,
      testable, traditional, true, true as gospel, truthful,
      unanswerable, unconfutable, unconfuted, undeniable, undenied,
      undoubted, unerroneous, unfallacious, unfalse, unimpeachable,
      unmistaken, unquestionable, unrefutable, unrefuted, validated,
      veracious, verifiable, verified, veritable