retroactive

First attested in 1610. From French rétroactif, equivalent to retro- +‎ active.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛt.ɹəʊˈæk.tɪv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛ.tɹoʊˈæk.tɪv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

retroactive (not comparable)

1. Extending in scope, effect, application or influence to a prior time or to prior conditions
   • 2005, Jeff Hull, Pale Morning Done: A Novel, page 214:

     Rather, he hoped there was some legal trickeration he could deploy to get a retroactive water right filed and end-run the opposition.

   • 2007 April 15, Liesl Schillinger, “The Night Train to Bucharest”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Can such a child be ennobled by the passage of time, his struggles granted retroactive gravitas and his childish confusions rearticulated with adult clarity?

   • 2016, Abbie E. Goldberg, The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, page 232:

     Such assumptions can motivate expressions of cisgenderism such as retroactive misgendering (in which a person's past is described using language that disregards or contrasts with their current designation of their gender) […]

• retroactive rape
• retroactively

• retroaction

• ex post facto
• retrospective