retroactive
Americanadjective
-
operative with respect to past occurrences, as a statute; retrospective.
a retroactive law.
-
pertaining to a pay raise effective as of a past date.
adjective
-
applying or referring to the past
retroactive legislation
-
effective or operative from a date or for a period in the past
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of retroactive
Explanation
The adjective retroactive refers to something happening now that affects the past. For example, a retroactive tax is one that is passed at one time, but payable back to a time before the tax was passed. The Latin word retroagere, an ancestor of the adjective retroactive, means "drive or turn back," and goes along with the meaning of the word. Sometimes governments pass rulings that are set as if they were in effect before the ruling was even made, and that means they are retroactive. On the bright side, you might be awarded a salary raise that is retroactive, meaning you'll get paid more for work you did in the past. And, retroactive fads in clothing keep vintage clothing stores in business.
Vocabulary lists containing retroactive
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Unwind
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Just Mercy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Retroactive pay due to D.C. teachers as part of a new teachers union contract has been delayed a month, city officials say.
From Washington Times • May 9, 2023
Retroactive wage increases are "something that should be on the table," de Blasio told Reuters in an interview last week.
From Reuters • Sep. 13, 2013
Nor is she any great feminist, despite her outspokenness about "girl power," which you can read about in "Nicki Minaj's Retroactive Feminism" by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd for the website AlterNet.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2012
Retroactive testing on samples provided at the Olympic has been done before.
From New York Times • Feb. 27, 2010
Retroactive Legislation Disallowed The due process clause has been successfully invoked to defeat retroactive invasion or destruction of property rights in a few cases.
From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Corwin, Edward Samuel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
