Meanings
- governmentA political or philosophical concept positing that a certain political, economic or social system will be the last one that humanity develops.
Twenty-five years ago this summer, Francis Fukuyama announced the “end of history” and the inevitable triumph of liberal capitalist democracy.
2014 September 1, Timothy Stanley, Alexander Lee, “It's Still Not the End of History”, in The Atlantic1 more example
[…]I argued that liberal democracy may constitute the “end point of mankind's ideological evolution” and the “final form of history” and as such constituted the “end of history”.
1992, Francis Fukuyama, “By Way of an Introduction”, in The End of History and the Last Man, Free Press, →ISBN, page xiSynonyms: eschaton
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA political or philosophical concept positing that a certain political, economic or social system will be the last one that humanity develops.
Origin
Popularized by the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama in his book The End of History and the Last Man (1992), based on an article he wrote in 1989.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 歷史的終結 /历史的终结
- 歷史的終結 /历史的终结 (lìshǐ de zhōngjié)Translations
Cite this entry
end of history. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end%20of%20history
“end of history.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end%20of%20history. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “end of history,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/end%20of%20history.
Source: end of history on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.