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History vocabulary · Historiography and Historical Thinking

Evidence

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈevɪdəns/nounCore term

In history, evidence means: Information from sources, objects or data that helps show whether a claim about the past is true, or how likely it is.

In Turkish: kanıt, delil, belge

How it is used

Historians gather, weigh, assess and interpret evidence; evidence supports, suggests or contradicts a claim. Essays use phrases such as there is little evidence that, the evidence suggests and on the available evidence.

Example sentences

  1. There is little evidence that the order was ever carried out.

  2. Archaeological evidence suggests the town was abandoned around 1200 BC.

Common collocations

  • historical evidence
  • archaeological evidence
  • a piece of evidence
  • weigh the evidence
  • the evidence suggests
  • primary sourceEvidence created at the time being studied or by people who witnessed it, such as letters, diaries, official records, photographs or objects.
  • 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.
  • source criticismThe careful evaluation of a historical source to judge where it came from, who made it and why, and how reliable and useful it is for a particular question.
  • biasA one-sided view that makes a source or a writer favour one person, group or explanation, so that the account is not fully balanced or complete.

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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