Word.ws English Dictionary

after

Syllables: af·ter/ˈaftə(ɹ)//ˈɑːftə/

after adverb: behind; later in time; following.

Adverb

after (not comparable)

  1. Behind; later in time; following.
    • I left the room, and the dog bounded after.
    • They lived happily ever after.

Preposition

after

  1. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
    • We had a few beers after the game.
    • The time is a quarter after eight.
    1. Subsequently to and as a result of.
      • Sucess comes after hard work.
    2. Subsequently to and considering.
      • I’m not putting you in charge again after the last disaster.
    3. Subsequently to and in spite of.
      • After all that has happened, he is still my friend.
      • I can’t believe that, after all our advice against gambling, you walked into that casino!
    4. (often) Subsequently to the actions of (someone), in order to remedy a situation.
      • I'm tired of picking up after you. Why can't you clean your own messes?
    5. Repeatedly, seemingly in a sequence without end.
      • day after day, time after time, mile after mile, beer after beer, smile after smile
      • Paper after paper spells out how vulnerable we are to internet-induced brain rot.2024 December 9, Siân Boyle, “Is doom scrolling really rotting our brains? The evidence is getting harder to ignore”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2026
    6. (Ireland, Newfoundland, usually preceded by a form of be) Used to indicate recent completion of an activity.
      • I was after finishing my dinner when there was a knock on the door. [= I had just finished my dinner when ...]
      • He was after walking on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before, all the way from the County Limerick, where his brother, Father John, has a parish; and you may believe, the poor man was tired1875, Patrick Kennedy, Evenings in the Duffrey, page 283
  2. Behind.
    • He will leave a trail of destruction after him.
    • I told her to shut the door after her.
  3. In pursuit of, seeking; denoting the aim or object.
    • run after him; he’s after a job; to thirst after righteousness
  4. Concerning; in relation to.
    • to enquire after a friend; to ask after her health
  5. In allusion to, in imitation of; following or referencing.
    • We named him after his grandfather.
    • This painting is after Leonardo da Vinci.
  6. Below, often next below, in importance or rank.
    • The princess is next in line to the throne after the prince.
  7. (obsolete) According to (an author or text).
  8. (obsolete) According to the direction and influence of; in proportion to; befitting.
    • He takes greatness of kingdoms according to bulk and currency, and not after their intrinsic value.a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount...

Conjunction

after

  1. Signifies that the action of the clause it starts takes place before the action of the other clause.
    • The show ends after the fat lady sings.
    • After we had decided to call it a day, I went home.

Adjective

after

  1. (dated) Later; second (of two); next, following, subsequent
    • I did verily believe in my own mind, that I couldn't fight in that way at all; but my after experience convinced me that this was all a notion.1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, page 72
    • The amends he had made in after life were lost sight of in the dramatic glare of the original act.1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
  2. (nautical or aeronautical, where the frame of reference is within the craft) At or towards the stern of a ship or the rear of an aircraft.
    • The after gun is mounted aft.
    • The after gun is abaft the forward gun.

Noun

after (plural afters)

  1. Of before-and-after images: the one that shows the difference after a specified treatment.
    • In the ‘before’ shots, she’ll look like an ordinary suburban housewife; but we know she acts in community theater musicals sometimes, so the ‘afters’ will give her a glamorous starlet image, starting with a very revealing bathing suit shot.1987, Joanna Z. Adams, Makeovers, London: Headline Book Publishing Plc, →ISBN, page 61
    • Did any of the before pictures remind you of yourself, and did any of the afters show what you hoped your results might be?1998, Alan Gaynor, “How to Choose a Doctor”, in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cosmetic Surgery But Couldn’t Afford to Ask: A Complete Look at the Latest Techniques and Why They Are Safer...

after meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

after in Hindi

behind; later in time; following
पश्चात paścāt, उपरांत uprānt
subsequently; following in time; later than
... के बाद ... ke bād
behind
के पीछे ke pīche
in pursuit of, seeking
की खोज में kī khoj mẽ

after in Tamil

subsequently; following in time; later than
பிறகு piṟaku

after in Marathi

subsequently; following in time; later than
नंतर nantar

after in Urdu

subsequently; following in time; later than
... کے بعد ... ke bād, بعد از bād-az, پھر phir
More languagesFewer languages
after in Bengali
বাদে bade, পরে pore
after in Malayalam
ശേഷം śēṣaṁ, കഴിഞ്ഞ് kaḻiññŭ, പിന്നാലെ pinnāle
after in Kannada
ಬಳಿಕ baḷika
after in Punjabi
مَگروں magroṉ
after in Odia
ପରେ pare, ପଛରେ pachare
after in Sanskrit
पश्चात् paścā́t
after in Arabic
بعد baʕda, بَعْدَ baʕda, خَلْفَ ḵalfa, وَرَاء warāʔ
after in Malay
selepas
after in Indonesian
setelah
after in Persian
پس از, بعد از ba'd az, بعد ba'd-e, در پی dar pi
after in Thai
หลัง lǎng
after in Vietnamese
sau

Examples of after in a sentence

  • I might come next month, or the month after.
  • The Cold War began shortly after WWII.
  • After you with the salt and pepper.
  • The aircraft provided an after cabin for two radar operators.
  • But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
  • After early sparring, Spurs started to take control as the interval approached and twice came close to taking the lead.2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC:

All 40 example sentences with after

Synonyms of after

Forms of after

pluralafters

Origin of after

From Middle English after, from Old English æfter, from Proto-West Germanic *aftar, from Proto-Germanic *after, *aftiri, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epoteros (“further behind, further away”), from *h₂epo (“off, away”). Cognate with Scots efter (“after”), North Frisian efter (“after, behind”), West Frisian after, achter, efter (“behind; after”), Low German and Dutch achter (“behind”), German after- (“after-”), Danish and Swedish efter (“after”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk etter (“after”), Faroese and Icelandic eftir (“after”). The Irish usage to indicate recent completion of an activity is a calque of the Irish collocation Táim tar éis... (“I have just...”, literally “I am after...”).

Words formed from after

Phrases with after

153 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with after

Questions about after

What does after mean?
After means behind; later in time; following.
What is after in Hindi?
After in Hindi is पश्चात (paścāt), उपरांत (uprānt), ... के बाद (... ke bād). See After meaning in Hindi.
How do you use after in a sentence?
I might come next month, or the month after.
What part of speech is after?
After can be an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction or an adjective.
How do you pronounce after?
After is pronounced /ˈɑːftə/ (UK).

Words near after in the dictionary

  1. aftcasted
  2. aftcasting
  3. aftcastle
  4. aftcastles
  5. aftcasts
  6. after
  7. after a fashion
  8. after a while
  9. after a while, crocodile
  10. after all
  11. after all is said and done

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: after (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-after.wav, En-us-after.ogg.

Cite this entry: “after.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/after. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.