retrospective

American  

[re-truh-spek-tiv] / ˌrɛ trəˈspɛk tɪv /

adjective

1. directed to the past; contemplative of past situations, events, etc.

2. looking or directed backward.

3. retroactive, as a statute.

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noun

1. an art exhibit showing an entire phase or representative examples of an artist's lifework.

2. any exhibition or series of showings or performances, as of musical works or motion pictures, representing the work of an artist or performer over all or a major part of a career.

   a retrospective of John Ford's movies.

retrospective British  

/ ˌrɛtrəʊˈspɛktɪv /

adjective

1. looking or directed backwards, esp in time; characterized by retrospection

2. applying to the past; retroactive

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noun

1. an exhibition of an artist's life's work or a representative selection of it

Other Word Forms

• retrospectively adverb
• retrospectiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of retrospective

First recorded in 1655–65; retrospect + -ive

Example Sentences

To examine how well current tools perform, the researchers conducted a retrospective review of 474 patients younger than 66 who had no known coronary artery disease.

From Science Daily

They may well be the reason that Pissarro has not had a retrospective in the U.S. since 1981—which was also the first in many decades.

From The Wall Street Journal

By the 1990s, with The Beatles having settled their differences, the time was right for mounting the retrospective “Anthology.”

From Salon

Yet with a retrospective in the works for next year at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague, and seeing the breadth of her life’s work so resplendently presented at the Bruce, Dodd is pleased.

From New York Times

“During the 18th and 19th centuries, this was the heart of New York,” the New York Times art critic Holland Cotter wrote in a 1993 retrospective of the storied Coenties Slip art world.

From New York Times

Related Words

• reflective