Retrospective

//ˌɹɛt.ɹə(ʊ)ˈspɛk.tɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An exhibition of works from an extended period of an artist's activity.
  2. 2
    an exhibition of a representative selection of an artist's life work wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, relating to, or contemplating the past.

    "While the pictures of what precisely unfolded after Cissé looked to tread on Evans are not entirely conclusive, the Football Association will surely pore over them on Thursday before quite possibly using video evidence to impose lengthy retrospective bans stemming from an incident unseen by Anthony Taylor, the referee."

  2. 2
    Looking backwards.
  3. 3
    Affecting or influencing past things; retroactive.
Adjective
  1. 1
    concerned with or related to the past wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
ex post factoa prioribackbackwarddemonstrationdisplay

Example

More examples

"We'll start the meeting with a retrospective look at the past year."

Etymology

From retrospect + -ive. From Latin retrōspectus, perfect passive participle of retrōspiciō (“I look back at”).

Related phrases

retrospective determinismretrospective memory

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