in retrospect

Idioms  

1. Looking backward, reflecting on the past. For example, In retrospect, he regarded his move as the best thing he'd ever done. This idiom employs retrospect in the sense of “a view of the past.” [Second half of 1600s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

in retrospect

It’s easy, in retrospect, to reverse-engineer other people’s finances, and say, “This is where you went wrong. Why couldn’t you see that at the time?”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

What’s funny, especially in retrospect, is how widely these men whiffed the point.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

“The lesson of history is that alliance systems often prove more resilient in retrospect than contemporary observers expect at the time,” they write.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

Haynie said that in retrospect, the school might have been better off not constructing so much simultaneously.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

No event in American history which was so improbable at the time has seemed so inevitable in retrospect as the American Revolution.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

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