Meaning of arc of history | Babel Free

Definitions

The idea that history has a direction or purpose that “bends” (or can be bent) towards some goal.

Examples

“If Jim Yong Kim wants to ‘bend the arc of history’, he should start by addressing long-standing inequalities in his own organisation[.]”

“If Obama’s interests run toward history, so does his rhetoric. “It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day,” he said the evening of his first election.”

“We understand the great arc of human history bends towards people coming together in ever greater numbers — from tribes to cities to nations — to achieve things we couldn’t on our own.”

“The nationalist was urging his listeners to question the prevailing narrative, to think the unthinkable, to bend the arc of history.”

“For the roughly half a million members here, many of whom joined in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and two Donald Trump inaugurations, the arc of history feels more like a freefall.”

CEFR level