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History vocabulary · Historiography and Historical Thinking

Context

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈkɒntekst/nounCore term

In history, context means: The circumstances, ideas and events of the time in which something happened or was written, which help explain its meaning.

In Turkish: bağlam, tarihsel bağlam

How it is used

A basic idea in history teaching: put a source in context, the historical context, take a quotation out of context. Essays often begin by setting the context. The adjective is contextual, and to contextualise means to place something in its context.

Example sentences

  1. To understand the speech, we need to look at its historical context.

  2. The quotation is often used out of context.

Common collocations

  • historical context
  • in context
  • out of context
  • set the context
  • the wider context
  • anachronismSomething placed in the wrong period, such as an object, word or idea, or the mistake of judging the past by the standards and concepts of a later time.
  • interpretationA particular explanation of what past events meant or why they happened, based on the evidence and on the historian's questions and point of view.
  • primary sourceEvidence created at the time being studied or by people who witnessed it, such as letters, diaries, official records, photographs or objects.
  • hindsightUnderstanding of an event or situation that comes only after it has happened, when its results are already known.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Historiography and Historical Thinking

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