Historic means important enough to be remembered and recorded in history. When something is historic, it marks a significant moment that people will talk about and study for years to come.

The first moon landing in 1969 was a historic achievement because humans had never walked on another world before. When the Wright brothers flew their airplane at Kitty Hawk in 1903, it was a historic moment that changed transportation forever. A historic election might be the first time a particular type of person gets chosen for office, or when the outcome dramatically changes a nation's direction.

Age alone doesn't make something historic. Your grandmother's old toaster might be antique, but it lacks historical significance. A building becomes historic when something important happened there, or when it represents a turning point in architecture or culture. The same goes for events: your school's regular Tuesday assembly lacks historical significance, but the day your school opened its doors for the first time probably had it.

The word suggests that whatever happened was meaningful enough that historians will want to document it. When people say “this is a historic day,” they mean something has occurred that will matter to future generations, not just to people living through it right now.