Hereafter

//hɪɹˈæftɚ// adj, adv, noun

adj, adv, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A future existence or state. countable, uncommon, uncountable
  2. 2
    the time yet to come wordnet
  3. 3
    Existence after death. countable, poetic, uncommon, uncountable

    "'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us; / 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, / and intimates eternity to man."

  4. 4
    life after death wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Future. archaic, not-comparable
Adverb
  1. 1
    From now on. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Sequentially after this point (in time, in the writing constituting a document, in the movement along a path, etc.) not-comparable
  3. 3
    In time to come; in some future time or state. dated, not-comparable

    "She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word."

Adverb
  1. 1
    following this in time or order or place; after this wordnet
  2. 2
    in a future life or state wordnet
  3. 3
    in a subsequent part of this document or statement or matter etc. wordnet

Example

More examples

"Justice will be served, whether here or in the hereafter."

Etymology

From Old English hēræfter (“in the aftertime; later on”). By surface analysis, here + after.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.