hereafter

American  

[heer-af-ter, -ahf-] / hɪərˈæf tər, -ˈɑf- /

adverb

1. after this in time or order; at some future time; farther along.

2. in the time to follow; from now on.

   Hereafter I will not accept their calls.

3. in the life or world to come.

4. hereinafter.

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noun

• hereafters
  plural

1. a life or existence after death; the future beyond mortal existence.

2. time to come; the future.

hereafter British  

/ ˌhɪərˈɑːftə /

adverb

1. formal in a subsequent part of this document, matter, case, etc

2. a less common word for henceforth

3. at some time in the future

4. in a future life after death

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noun

1. life after death

2. the future

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hereafters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hereafter

before 900; Middle English; Old English hēræfter. See here, after

Explanation

You can use the adverb hereafter to talk about what happens next, after this moment. For example, you might say, "I will hereafter get my homework done in time." When you mean "from now on," you can say hereafter, like when you give a friend a new nickname: "You will hereafter be known as Brostache." Another kind of hereafter is what happens after death. When someone talks specifically about "the hereafter," he usually means heaven or life after death. This is the earliest meaning of the word, and it's often mentioned in religious contexts and at funerals.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hereafter hereafters

In medieval Europe, leprosy was seen as a kind of transfigurative suffering: Those with the condition were believed to be so wretched in this life that they were virtually guaranteed respite in the hereafter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

In October, shortly after Dame Jilly's death, Camilla said she was "so saddened" by the news, adding: "May her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs."

From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026

That alone tells me that you’re certainly on the right track, and what you do hereafter can only make it better.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025

Donald Trump keeps talking about God and the hereafter.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2025

After he signed his name, he wrote, “Remember life is short, and two months is the sixth part of the year, and that year, the first, from which for my part, things shall hereafter date.”

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

And instead of the bare brown rafters,   And the snowflakes sifting in, He saw in the glad hereafters,   The home his hands should win.

From The Coming of the Princess and Other Poems by Kate Seymour MacLean

Under the bare brown rafters,   In his garret bed he lay, And dreamed of the bright hereafters.

From The Coming of the Princess and Other Poems by Kate Seymour MacLean

My belief is, anyway, that if there's hereafters for some things, there's hereafters for all.

From Humorous Ghost Stories by Dorothy Scarborough

Yet though all this be so, nevertheless, in our own hearts, we mould the whole world's hereafters; and in our own hearts we fashion our own gods.

From White Jacket or, the World on a Man-of-War by Herman Melville

Related Words

• afterlife