Word.ws English Dictionary

the rest is history

the rest is history phrase: one does not need to continue narrating a story as the subsequent events are assumed to be well-known.

Phrase

the rest is history

  1. (idiomatic, informal) One does not need to continue narrating a story as the subsequent events are assumed to be well-known.
    • Sarah and I got married back in 1956 and the rest is history.
    • And we said, “We're all going to agree on one name, and we're all going to start using it.” We voted on “sourceware” versus “open source,” and “open source” won. We had the press conference at five, and the rest is history.2009, Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene, quoting Tim O'Reilly, Beautiful Teams: Inspiring and Cautionary Tales from Veteran Team Leaders, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 4

Questions about the rest is history

What does the rest is history mean?
The rest is history means one does not need to continue narrating a story as the subsequent events are assumed to be well-known.
What part of speech is the rest is history?
The rest is history is a phrase.

Words near the rest is history in the dictionary

  1. the quality
  2. the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
  3. the rabbit died
  4. the race that stops a nation
  5. the rest is gravy
  6. the rest is history
  7. the revolution will not be televised
  8. the rich get richer
  9. The Ridgeway
  10. The Risk
  11. the road to hell is paved with good intentions

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the rest is history (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-the rest is history.ogg.

Cite this entry: “the rest is history.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/the_rest_is_history. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.