ret·ro·spect
ˈre-trə-ˌspekt 
1
: a review of or meditation on past events
2
archaic
: reference to or regard of a precedent or authority
retrospected; retrospecting; retrospects
: to go back over in thought
Examples of retrospect in a Sentence
Noun
in retrospect, we should have saved more money for college
Recent Examples on the Web
Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
After slugging 20 homers for the San Francisco Giants last year following several productive seasons for the New York Mets earlier in his career, Conforto struggled to adjust to the Dodgers and their bet on him seems to have been misplaced in retrospect.
—Peter Chawaga, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
JSTOR Daily, 26 Oct. 2025
In retrospect, nearly every naming best practice — allowing sufficient time for creative development, prescreening names, even avoiding company-wide brainstorming — was set aside on this project.
—Anthony Shore, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
Mark Danner, The New York Review of Books, 1 July 2021
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Noun
But, in retrospect, that optimism appears to have been Kremlin wishful thinking too.
—Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
After slugging 20 homers for the San Francisco Giants last year following several productive seasons for the New York Mets earlier in his career, Conforto struggled to adjust to the Dodgers and their bet on him seems to have been misplaced in retrospect.
—Peter Chawaga, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
Its success inspired a wave of canal building in other states, although the economic benefit of these other canals is dubious in retrospect.
—JSTOR Daily, 26 Oct. 2025
In retrospect, nearly every naming best practice — allowing sufficient time for creative development, prescreening names, even avoiding company-wide brainstorming — was set aside on this project.
—Anthony Shore, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
Verb
In retrospect the unfolding of Watergate in the press and the courts and Congress is our American Oresteia.
—Mark Danner, The New York Review of Books, 1 July 2021
See All Example Sentences for retrospect
Cite this Entry
“Retrospect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrospect. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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