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History vocabulary · Historiography and Historical Thinking

Legacy

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈleɡəsi/nounCore term

In history, legacy means: The lasting effects, ideas, institutions or problems that a person, period, empire or event leaves behind for later generations.

In Turkish: miras, kalıt, bıraktığı izler

How it is used

Used for both positive and negative effects: the legacy of empire, the legacy of colonialism, a lasting legacy. Rulers and states leave or inherit a legacy, and essays assess or examine one.

Example sentences

  1. Roman law left a lasting legacy in the legal systems of Europe.

  2. The new republic inherited much of the administrative legacy of the empire.

Common collocations

  • a lasting legacy
  • leave a legacy
  • the legacy of empire
  • the legacy of colonialism
  • assess the legacy of
  • empireA large state or group of territories and peoples ruled by a single supreme authority, often an emperor or sultan, and usually built through conquest.
  • colonialismThe policy or practice of a state taking control of other territories and peoples, settling or ruling them, and using their land and resources for its own benefit.
  • turning pointA moment or event that causes an important change in the direction of history, after which things develop differently.
  • historyThe study of past events, especially those of human societies, and the written account that historians produce from the evidence they find.

More terms: Historiography and Historical Thinking

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