Retrospection

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of considering past experiences or actions in order to derive meaning or insights
2. Reflecting on previous events and thoughts to inform present understanding and decisions
3. The act of looking back on earlier times to understand or analyze them

Etymology: The word is built from Latin parts that also appear in everyday English. "Retro" means backward, and "specere" means to look, the same root found in spectator, inspect, and spectacle. Latin "retrospicere" meant to look back, and its past participle "retrospectus" gave English "retrospect," a view of what has already happened. "Retrospection" comes from that base with the suffix "-ion," which turns an action into a noun. The result names the act of deliberately turning attention backward, which is the same physical image of turning one's head to look behind that the Latin root preserved.

Synonyms: reflection, review, recollection, looking back, nostalgia

Antonyms: anticipation, forward-looking, looking ahead, prospection, imagination