# historism

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. 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.

## Etymology
From German Historismus.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/historism