Meanings
adjectiveworld-historical (not comparable)
- not comparablePertaining to world history; globally significant.
It is hard to overstate the world-historical impact of this transformation.
2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 1241 more example
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China was a world-historical event.
2005, Arif Dirlik, Marxism in the Chinese Revolution
Origin
From world + historical, perhaps after earlier German weltgeschichtlich [from 19th c.]
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
world-historical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world-historical
MLA
“world-historical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world-historical. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “world-historical,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world-historical.
Source: world-historical on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.