retrospective Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an exhibition of a representative selection of an artist's life work
  2. adjective concerned with or related to the past
    • retrospective self-justification

WordNet

Re`tro*spec"tive adjective
Etymology
Cf. F. rétrospectif.
Definitions
  1. Looking backward; contemplating things past; -- opposed to prospective; as, a retrospective view.
    The sage, with retrospective eye. Pope.
  2. Having reference to what is past; affecting things past; retroactive; as, a retrospective law.
    Inflicting death by a retrospective enactment. Macaulay.

Webster 1913