Meanings
- uncountablegrammarThe present tense as used when referring to real past events, to add immediacy to what is being said or written.
- uncountablegrammarThe present tense as used when writing a fictional narrative.
In most dialects, the historical present is used quite freely to convey the sense of more vivid narrative, to retell dreams, plots, tell jokes, etc.
1972, William Labov, Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English, page 472 more examples
Cross-linguistically, the historical present tends to be used to increase vividness by substituting the perspective of the ongoing speech situation for that of the narrative.
2001, Daniel E. Collins, Reanimated Voices: Speech reporting in a historical-pragmatic perspective, page 91Mr. Rothstein comes in," Scher said, "it must have been about none o'clock. Every night he comes in here [Scher, like so many Broadway habitués, spoke most often in the historical present, rather than the past, tense. Damon Runyon faithfully reproduced this patois.] Regular as clockwork he comes in here.
2016, Leo Katcher, The Big Bankroll: The Life And Times Of Arnold Rothstein
Synonyms & antonyms
Translations
Bulgarian сегашно време в миналото
- сегашно време в миналото (segašno vreme v minaloto)tense
Dutch praesens historicum
- praesens historicumtense
French présent historique
- présent historiquetense
German historisches Präsens
- historisches Präsenstense
Greek ιστορικός ενεστώτας
- ιστορικός ενεστώτας (istorikós enestótas)tense
Hungarian történelmi jelen
- történelmi jelentense
Icelandic söguleg nútíð, frásagnarnútíð
- söguleg nútíðtense
- frásagnarnútíðtense
Irish láithreach stairiúil
- láithreach stairiúiltense
Latin praesēns histŏrĭcum
- praesēns histŏrĭcumtense
Norwegian historisk presens
- historisk presenstense
Polish czas teraźniejszy historyczny
- czas teraźniejszy historycznytense
Romanian prezent istoric
- prezent istorictense
Cite this entry
historical present. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historical%20present
“historical present.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historical%20present. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “historical present,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historical%20present.
Source: historical present on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.