Retrospect

//ˈɹɛtɹəˌspɛkt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Consideration of past times.

    "My mind, calmer and stronger now than last night, made for itself some imperious rules, prohibiting under deadly penalties all weak retrospect of happiness past; commanding a patient journeying through the wilderness of the present..."

  2. 2
    contemplation of things past wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To look or refer back to; to reflect on.

    "To give a correct idea of the circumstances which have gradually produced this conviction, it may be useful to retrospect to an early period."

  2. 2
    look back upon (a period of time, sequence of events); remember wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
reviewafterthoughtafterviewbring backbring to mindcall back

Example

More examples

"In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have gone there with her."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin retrōspectum, from retrōspicio (“to look back at”), equivalent to retro- + -spect. Compare review.

Related phrases

in retrospect

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