Taine (t?n, t?n), Hippolyte Adolphe 1828-1893. French philosopher and historian who was a leading exponent of positivism and wrote the six-volume Origins of Contemporary France (1876-1894).American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Taine (French t?n) n (Biography) Hippolyte Adolphe (ip?lit ad?lf). 1828?93, French literary critic and historian. He applied determinist criteria to the study of literature, art, history, and psychology, regarding them as products of environment and race. His works include Histoire de la littérature anglaise (1863?64) and Les Origines de la France contemporaine (1875?93)Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014