retrospect
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
verb
-
to contemplate (anything past); look back on (something)
-
to refer
Etymology
Origin of retrospect
1595–1605; probably retro- + (pro)spect
Explanation
In retrospect — that is, in looking back and contemplating the past — we sometimes find ourselves wishing that we had done some things differently. Though this word most commonly appears as a noun in the phrase "in retrospect," it can also be used as a verb. The prefix retro- means “back," and spect is a component of the words inspect, spectator, spectacles, and perspective, among others, which all have to do with looking or seeing. So it makes sense that retrospect means to look back in time, or to remember.
Vocabulary lists containing retrospect
Wonder
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Common Senses: Spec, Spect, Spic ("Look")
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To All the Boys I've Loved Before
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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.
“The thought that scholars would surely wish to explore these questions once the war had ended was increasingly on my mind,” McNamara wrote in his 1995 book, “In Retrospect, The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2023
Mr Horner is among those who refer to the unrest as a rebellion, titling his class The 1967 Rebellion: Retrospect and Prospect.
From BBC • Jul. 25, 2017
Retrospect has established Halloween, 1997, as the party to end all parties.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 22, 2016
Retrospect is likely to find these claims unimpressive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2015
The poem is one of those in the now scarce volume which Southey and Lovel published jointly at Bath in 1795, Poems: containing "The Retrospect."
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4 Poems and Plays by Lamb, Mary
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.
