retrospective

[re-truh-spek-tiv]

adjective

1. directed to the past; contemplative of past situations, events, etc.

2. looking or directed backward.

3. retroactive, as a statute.

noun

1. an art exhibit showing an entire phase or representative examples of an artist's lifework.

2. any exhibition or series of showings or performances, as of musical works or motion pictures, representing the work of an artist or performer over all or a major part of a career.

   a retrospective of John Ford's movies.

retrospective

/ ˌrɛtrəʊˈspɛktɪv /

adjective

1. looking or directed backwards, esp in time; characterized by retrospection

2. applying to the past; retroactive

noun

1. an exhibition of an artist's life's work or a representative selection of it

Other Word Forms

• retrospectively adverb
• retrospectiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of retrospective¹

First recorded in 1655–65; retrospect + -ive

Example Sentences

By the 1990s, with The Beatles having settled their differences, the time was right for mounting the retrospective “Anthology.”

Read more on Salon

In fact, when the painter mounted his own retrospective in Paris in 1932, he hung the works not according to chronology but jumbled together.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The first retrospective devoted to Reed traces his life and work from his days as a graphic designer in the 1950s onward, outlining a pioneering, eight-decade career that ranged across mediums and movements.

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The ending, impeded by a retrospective coda, diminishes the full cathartic impact.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mr. Baumbach’s sly and elegant finale queues up a retrospective of Jay’s work that doubles as a highlight reel of Mr. Clooney’s.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• reflective