retrospective
[re-truh-spek-tiv]
- directed to the past; contemplative of past situations, events, etc.
- looking or directed backward.
- retroactive, as a statute.
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- an art exhibit showing an entire phase or representative examples of an artist's lifework.
- 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.
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Origin of retrospective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for retrospective
Contemporary Examples
In 1980, a retrospective of the artist at the Museum of Modern Art in New York captivated Hockney.
To celebrate a retrospective box set, entitled Nothing Has Changed, Bowie has released a video for one of two new songs included.
“When Tibor died we did a retrospective of MCo., and the lamp was the last thing you saw,” she says.
Frank Gehry is enjoying a major moment: his retrospective is in full swing in Paris and his latest creation opens today.
So what better way to craft that reminder than with a retrospective of famous, dead figures who defined Ukrainian identity?
Historical Examples
He looked out to sea with a meditative and retrospective mind.
Nell, of Shorne MillsCharles Garvice
A historical interest may be not only retrospective but contemporary.
Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787)William Wagstaffe
"That's a fact," answered Amos to the retrospective musings of the Judge.
The ArenaVarious
What a painful reverse may not the retrospective view afford!
The English SpyBernard Blackmantle
How do the deeds of ill Throng round the retrospective glance!
A Leaf from the Old ForestJ. D. Cossar
retrospective
- looking or directed backwards, esp in time; characterized by retrospection
- applying to the past; retroactive
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- an exhibition of an artist's life's work or a representative selection of it
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for retrospective
adj.
1660s, from retrospect + -ive. As a noun, from 1964, short for retrospective exhibition (1908), etc. Related: Retrospectively.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper