Phrase guide

historical materialism

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, looking for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Marxism, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of German historischer Materialismus. Its earliest extant attestation - in German - is in Friedrich Engels's letter [5 August 1890] to Conrad Schmidt. Its earliest extant public attestation - in English - is in Engels's 1892 "Introduction to the English Edition" to his 1880 booklet Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مادية تاريخية — Translations
  • Asturian: materialismu históricu — Translations
  • Basque: materialismo historiko — Translations
  • Bengali: ঐতিহাসিক বস্তুবাদ (ōitihaśik bostubad) — Translations
  • Bulgarian: исторически материализъм (istoričeski materializǎm) — Translations
  • Catalan: materialisme històric — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 歷史唯物主義 /历史唯物主义 (lìshǐ wéiwù zhǔyì) — Translations
  • Chuvash: историлле материализм (istorille mat̬erializm) — Translations
  • Czech: historický materialismus — Translations
  • Danish: historisk materialisme — Translations
  • Dutch: historisch materialisme — Translations
  • Esperanto: historia materiismo — Translations
  • Estonian: ajalooline materialism — Translations
  • Finnish: materialistinen historiankäsitys — Translations
  • French: matérialisme historique — Translations
  • Galician: materialismo histórico — Translations
  • Georgian: ისტორიული მატერიალიზმი (isṭoriuli maṭerializmi) — Translations
  • German: historischer Materialismus — Translations
  • Greek: ιστορικός υλισμός (istorikós ylismós) — Translations
  • Hebrew: מטריאליזם היסטורי — Translations
  • Hindi: ऐतिहासिक भौतिकवाद (aitihāsik bhautikvād) — Translations
  • Icelandic: söguleg efnishyggja — Translations
  • Italian: materialismo storico — Translations
  • Japanese: 唯物史観 — Translations
  • Lithuanian: istorinis materializmas — Translations
  • Malayalam: ചരിത്രപരമായ ഭൗതികവാദം (caritraparamāya bhautikavādaṁ) — Translations
  • Norwegian: historisk materialisme — Translations
  • Polish: materializm historyczny — Translations
  • Portuguese: materialismo histórico — Translations
  • Punjabi: ਇਤਿਹਾਸਕ ਪਦਾਰਥਵਾਦ (itihāsak padārthavād) — Translations
  • Russian: исторический материализм (istoričeskij materializm) — Translations
  • Serbo-Croatian: историјски материјализам — Translations
  • Slovak: historický materializmus — Translations
  • Slovene: historični materializem — Translations
  • Spanish: materialismo histórico — Translations
  • Swedish: historisk materialism — Translations
  • Turkish: tarihsel materyalizm — Translations
  • Ukrainian: історичний матеріалізм (istoryčnyj materializm) — Translations
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa duy vật lịch sử — Translations
  • Welsh: materoliaeth hanesyddol — Translations