afterthink
afterthink verb: to think about after the fact, reflect on.
Verb
afterthink (third-person singular simple present afterthinks, present participle afterthinking, simple past and past participle afterthought)
- To think about after the fact, reflect on.
- To repent, or feel remorse for; to regret.
- Do not afterthink except for poetic or P.S. reasons. Never afterthink to "improve" or defray impressions, as the best writing is always the most painful personal wrung-out tossed from cradle warm protective mind – tap from yourself the song of yourself, blow! – now! [...]2005, John Long, Drugs and the 'Beats': The Role of Drugs in the Lives and Writings
- Never fear," said her husband ; " there, sit you down and mend your stockings, and the less you heed us the less you'll have to afterthink."1870, Theodore Percival Wilson, Frank Oldfield; or, Lost and found
Forms of afterthink
| third-person singular present | afterthinks |
|---|---|
| present participle | afterthinking |
| past participle | afterthought |
| past | afterthought |
Origin of afterthink
Compound of after- + think, probably a calque of Ancient Greek μετάνοια (metánoia).
Questions about afterthink
- What does afterthink mean?
- Afterthink means to think about after the fact, reflect on.
- What part of speech is afterthink?
- Afterthink is a verb.
- What is the past tense of afterthink?
- The past tense of afterthink is afterthought.
Words near afterthink in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: afterthink (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.
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