ex post
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of ex post
1635–45; < Latin: from (what lies) behind, according to (what lies) behind
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 effects have been so strong that the Fed, in a heroic feat of ex post facto rationalization, has begun to think of asset prices as another transmission mechanism for its balance-sheet policy instrument.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
The issue is not just to admit, ex post facto, that we were wrong, but to think more deeply about why we were wrong.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
“This is a violation of the ex post facto clause of the constitution,” said Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
From Washington Times • Feb. 10, 2023
"A greater ex ante national ownership of the design of fiscal trajectories could be balanced by a stronger ex post enforcement at EU level," he said.
From Reuters • Oct. 10, 2022
Because Wayna Qhapaq had not actually married Washkar’s mother—the union was properly incestuous but not properly legitimate—the new Inka demanded that his mother participate ex post facto in a wedding ceremony with his father’s mummy.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
