after the fact

Idioms  

1. After an actual occurrence, particularly after a crime. For example, I know the brakes should have been repaired, but that doesn't help much after the fact. The use of fact for a crime dates from the first half of the 1500s. The word became standard in British law and is still used in this way today. The idiom was first recorded in 1769 in the phrase accessories after the fact, referring to persons who assist a lawbreaker after a crime has been committed. Now it is also used more loosely, as in the example above.

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Example Sentences

It’s not always easy, but it’s a lot easier to play hardball as a buyer or seller when you don’t know who you’re dealing with and have no personal relationship and when costs, repairs, and credits are spelled out in writing rather than negotiated informally after the fact.

From MarketWatch

Fed transcripts are only released five years after the fact, so the latest batch only covers 2020.

From MarketWatch

There is only so much you can do after the fact.

From MarketWatch

Adams discussed his own cancellation after the fact, saying a few days later on his livestream that he had been using hyperbole, “meaning an exaggeration,” to make a point.

From Los Angeles Times

Gold as a hedge against expected inflation: Some gold investors argue that, instead of responding to changes in the actual inflation rate, which we know only after the fact, gold responds to changes in expected future inflation.

From MarketWatch