Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of looking back on things past; reflection on the past.
  • noun The faculty of looking back on the past: recollection.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act, or the faculty, of looking back on things past.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The deliberate recall of past events

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun memory for experiences that are past
  • noun reference to things past

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As I, in retrospection, ponder those happy hours spent with Jack, Charmian and the Doctor during those three days so long ago, there comes the thought that in spite of Jack's happy and pleasant demeanor, that he was, in fact, a sicker man than his outward appearance revealed.

    MY 1916 VISIT TO JACK LONDON 2010

  • As it is the end of the year, TV Azteca news this morning has been engaging in retrospection and, among scenes of flooding in Chiapas, assasinations along the border and stories of exploitation of Mexican nationals in the U. S*. we have these reminders:

    On Scruples in General and and Outlaws in Particular 2005

  • Thus long, I have cradled my heart in retrospection of past happiness, when hope was.

    Note: "mortal immortal" 2002

  • The serene and soothing touch of history also aroused old enthusiasms, although some of their manifestations were such as one smiles over more easily in retrospection than at the moment.

    Twenty Years at Hull-House, With Autobiographical Notes 1910

  • But a melancholy and sentimental retrospection is an unprofitable indulgence – a kind of luxury which, perhaps, I have no right to allow to my -

    Memoirs, Correspondence and Poetical Remains of Jane Taylor 1832

  • Thus long, I have cradled my heart in retrospection of past happiness, when hope was.

    II.6 1826

  • O blissful state of innocence, purity, and delight, why must it fleet so fast? why scarcely but by retrospection is its happiness known?

    Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth 1796

  • Mercedes Higgins sighed cheerfully and for the time was lost in retrospection.

    CHAPTER II 2010

  • Mercedes Higgins sighed cheerfully and for the time was lost in retrospection.

    Chapter 2 1913

  • Well, as a typical white person, I do the kind of retrospection that Obama used for his speech all my life, not in one definning moment in a speech.

    Obama on Reverend Wright - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

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