historically

adv — 3 senses

historically

adv

UK /hɪˈstɒɹɪkli/ · US /hɪˈstɔɹɪkli/

Etymology From historical + -ly or historic + -ally.

1

In a historic manner; with reference to history or the historical record.

  • Historically speaking, this company has always collected payment before starting work.
  • Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically.
2

According to history: formerly, in the past, traditionally.

  • Historically, this company collected payment before starting work.
  • Holden Matthews, 21, has been charged in connection with fires at three historically black churches in Louisiana.2019 April 11, Harmeet Kaur, “Authorities say black metal may have influenced the Louisiana church fires suspect. Here’s what to know.”, in CNN:
3

To an unprecedented or extremely rare degree.

  • In January, the anti-corruption organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, released a detailed report on the historically unethical presidency of Donald Trump.2018 February 23, Michelle Goldberg, “The De-Trumpification Agenda”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2018:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.