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Which U.S. document mentions posterity in its preamble?

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posterity

American  

[po-ster-i-tee] / pɒˈstɛr ɪ ti /

noun

• posterities
  plural

1. 

   succeeding or future generations collectively.

   Judgment of this age must be left to posterity.

2. all descendants of one person.

   His fortune was gradually dissipated by his posterity.

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posterity British  

/ pɒˈstɛrɪtɪ /

noun

1. future or succeeding generations

2. all of one's descendants

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• posterities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of posterity

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English posterite, from Old French postérité, from Latin posteritāt-, stem of posteritās, noun derivative of posterus “coming after”; see posterior, -ity

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Explanation

Posterity is a noun meaning "future generations." These people of the future could be your children and great-great grandchildren, or any people who are born after you. If you save something "for posterity," you're hoping that years later people will appreciate it, like a time capsule you bury in the yard. The word comes from the Latin word for "post, after." It's also related to the word posterior, which means "behind, to come after in time." In legal terms, posterity refers to the offspring of a person and it often has to do with inheriting property and who is entitled to do so.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

posterity posterities

Chawawa was in his teens when social media and smartphones took off, and says he "took for granted" the brief time before any and every fun occasion was recorded and posted for posterity.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

Yet posterity knows this patron saint of the college English major as the father of economics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Donation for posterity offers a paradoxical solution to two great problems associated with keeping a diary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026

The reason is that the sport’s fancy new automated ball-strike system couldn’t function without it—which means that the days of players embellishing their heights for posterity are officially over.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026

“Oh, that. Well, to hear the Post tell it, we lynch ’em for breakfast; the Journal doesn’t care; and the Times is so wrapped up in its duty to posterity it bores you to death.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

Friar Bacon reading one day of the many conquests of England, bethought himself how he might keep it hereafter from the like conquests, and to make himself famous hereafter to all posterities.

From Cabinet Portrait Gallery of British Worthies Volume I by Anonymous

Reading one day of the many conquests of England, he bethought himselfe how he might keepe it hereafter from the like conquests, and so make himselfe famous hereafter to all posterities.

From Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams

He asked indignantly how the House of Lords could expect the Commons to give their concurrence to a measure "by which they and their posterities are to be excluded from the Peerage."

From A History of the Four Georges, Volume I by Justin McCarthy

During those primeval centuries, there lived at the same time nine patriarchs, together with their posterities, and all of them in harmony concerning the faith in the blessed seed!

From Commentary on Genesis, Vol. II Luther on Sin and the Flood by John Nicholas Lenker

Remember, it is not before my Lord Buckhurst and Master Beale that we sit, but before all posterities for evermore, who will hear of Mary Stewart and her wrongs.

From Unknown to History: a story of the captivity of Mary of Scotland by Charlotte Mary Yonge

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