historism

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noun

An influential 19th-century school of thought in historiography that rejected universalist and anachronistic explanations of historical developments and instead emphasized the idiosyncrasies and organic developments of each culture and time period, to be understood through critical interpretation of primary sources in the context of the unique conditions that produced them.

OriginGerman Historismus →
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Meanings

nounhistorism (countable and uncountable, plural historisms)

plural historisms

  1. countableuncountablehistoriographyAn influential 19th-century school of thought in historiography that rejected universalist and anachronistic explanations of historical developments and instead emphasized the idiosyncrasies and organic developments of each culture and time period, to be understood through critical interpretation of primary sources in the context of the unique conditions that produced them.

Origin

  1. GermanHistorismus
  2. Englishhistorism

From German Historismus.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch historisme
  • historisme19th century school of thought
German Historismus
  • Historismus19th century school of thought
Cite this entry
APA

historism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historism

MLA

“historism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “historism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/historism.

Source: historism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.