Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use retrospect in a sentence

25 example sentences · noun, verb

Retrospect means consideration of past times. Example: “In retrospect, the process of economic globalization has meant the end of the world as we knew it.”

Examples of retrospect by meaning

nounConsideration of past times.

  • Whether, like Colin, in retrospect Willie Lee and Baptist would feel that what has vanished was greater than what was achieved, is not something we can predict.1976, Terry Kay, The Year the Lights Came On, University of Georgia Press, published 1989, →ISBN, page 298

More sentences with retrospect

  • In retrospect, the process of economic globalization has meant the end of the world as we knew it.From the entry world
  • Trying to expand the business into the Middle East was doomed to failure. In retrospect, we shouldn't have bothered.From the entry in retrospect
  • In retrospect, maybe it'd've been better not to reply at all; maybe I'd've been better off just keeping my mouth shut.From the entry it'd've
  • In retrospect, 'Wild Horses' is a thuddingly boring song when not being done by the Stones.2015, Andrew Matheson, Sick On You: The Disastrous Story of Britain’s Great Lost Punk Band. From the entry thuddingly
  • Levi-Strauss's star is fallen now, and such extreme statements seem, in retrospect, a little bit ridiculous.2011, David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years, page 117. From the entry someone's star falls
  • In retrospect, there’s no doubt this was a turning point for transactivism.2003, anonymous, quoted in Patrick Califia, Sex Changes: Transgender Politics, page 232. From the entry transactivism
  • In retrospect, Sǒ's unqualified championship of the elective principle may seem somewhat naive.1991, Vipan Chandra, “Korean Human-Rights Consciousness in an Era of Transition: A Survey of Late Nineteenth-Century Developments”, in…. From the entry émigré
  • But in retrospect Michael was not the much-sought-after Presley or Beatles figure.1990, Joe Stuessy, Rock and Roll, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 371. From the entry Michaelmania
  • In retrospect, one can’t be surprised that the first experiment to carefully examine the aether failed to find it.2025 August 19, Charles C. Mann, “What Happens When an Entire Generation of Scientists Changes Its Mind? Total reversals in scientific…. From the entry 180
  • It was only in retrospect that I realised that all these traditional Eastern-European snacks were a variation of dried bread.2023, Nanda Milbreta, “How We Killed the Worms”, in Kommunalka Child, London: Austin Macauley Publishers, →ISBN, part I. From the entry baranka
  • In retrospect, I′d call her an el primo flake.2010, Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a Radical, Selected Writings 1970-2010, page 70. From the entry mad as a cut snake
  • Retrospect has rosied the accounts of shelter life.2003, Mary Abbott, Family Affairs. From the entry rosy
  • In retrospect, the first major hurdle was that of establishing effective mental communication between the doctor and the engineer.1966, Paul H. Bronnenkant, “Problems of IUD Manufacture”, in Family Planning and Population Programs: A Review of World Developments…. From the entry dimensionable
  • Looking in retrospect over his career, old P.1927 October 19, “Barnum Had Tact, Regardless”, in The Southeast Missourian. From the entry barnumize
  • Now, seen in retrospect, it haunts me.1919 March 31, W[ilhelm] N[ero] P[ilate] Barbellion [pseudonym; Bruce Frederick Cummings], “[[1915] May 27.] The Pool: A Retrospect”, in…. From the entry horrificness
  • In retrospect, it’s obvious that neither Flynn’s takesy-backsy declaration, nor Barr’s pulling out the rug beneath U.S. attorneys was ever intended to work.2020 December 1, Baxter, “Criminal tRump”, in or.politics (Usenet), archived from the original on 02 Dec 2025. From the entry takesy-backsy
  • Several trans men and women clients told me they had embarrassed themselves (in retrospect) by overdoing their gender expression, overgenderizing via clothing or behavior.2018, Joe Kort, LGBTQ Clients in Therapy: Clinical Issues and Treatment Strategies, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN. From the entry overgenderize
  • To the dreamer, a dream can seem at the time eerily indistinguishable from everyday consciousness yet, in retrospect, upon waking, so self-evidently different.2016, Susan Greenfield, “Dreaming”, in A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn till Dusk, London…. From the entry in the cold light of day
  • In retrospect, it would appear not uncomic — two philosophical monomaniacs with the same flaw — they could not help it, they were counterpunchers.”2007 January 21, Lee Siegel, “Maestro of the Human Ego”, in New York Times. From the entry uncomic
  • In retrospect, it was small wonder that Railtrack found its finances under pressure, as with ever increasing demand there was an inevitable effect on infrastructure renewals.2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69. From the entry deferred
  • Its free-roaming world was a departure for both the programmer and for console gamers, and in retrospect it was an ambitious undertaking that could have all gone horribly wrong.2013, Matt Fox, The Video Games Guide, →ISBN. From the entry free-roaming
  • How ungenerously in later life we disclaim the virtuous moods of our youth, living in retrospect long, summer days of unreflecting dissipation, Dresden figures of pastoral gaiety!1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 3, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego)…. From the entry unreflecting
  • Instances of misguidance like the ones given, and at least recognized in retrospect, in fascism, racism, and ecological brutalism, are also to be sensed by religious communication in other contexts.2012, Michael Welker, “Creation, the Concept of God, and the Nature of the Human Person in Christianity”, in Peter Koslowski, editor, The…. From the entry brutalism
  • The Attorney-General, however, had used this episode, which Martin in retrospect had felt to be a blot on the scutcheon, merely to emphasise the intelligence and resource of the prisoner.1935, Francis Beeding [pseudonym; John Palmer], “10/6”, in The Norwich Victims, →OL. From the entry episode

Meaning of retrospect

  1. noun Consideration of past times.
  2. verb To look or refer back to; to reflect on.

Full definition of retrospect

Questions about retrospect in a sentence

How do you use retrospect in a sentence?
Retrospect is used as a noun and verb. For example: “In retrospect, the process of economic globalization has meant the end of the world as we knew it.”
What is a short sentence with retrospect?
“Now, seen in retrospect, it haunts me.”
What does retrospect mean?
Retrospect means consideration of past times.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: retrospect (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use retrospect in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/retrospect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.