Posttrial

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Taking place or relating to the period after a court trial has concluded, such as appeals or sentencing
2. Describing events, procedures or matters that come after a formal legal trial has finished
3. Coming after a judicial hearing or test, particularly in reference to the stage following a court case

Etymology: "Posttrial" is a plain compound: the prefix "post-", meaning "after", from Latin "post", attached to "trial". The prefix has deep roots, going back through Proto-Italic "posti" to an older Indo-European base, but in English it simply means "occurring after a trial." "Trial" itself has a more winding route. It was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-Norman "trial", formed from Old French "trier" (to sort, select, or test), with a Latin suffix "-alis" lying behind the Anglo-Norman "-al". So the core idea of testing or sorting arrives in English from French, and the word "posttrial" simply stacks a Latin prefix onto that French-derived noun. Because "posttrial" is built from transparent parts, its use is largely in medicine and law, where people speak of posttrial periods, outcomes, or motions. The compound needed no special coinage; it follows the pattern of "postwar" or "postmortem."

Antonyms: pretrial