From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishretrospectiveret‧ro‧spec‧tive1 /ˌretrəˈspektɪv◂/ adjective [usually before noun] 1 PASTrelated to or thinking about the past a retrospective study of 110 patients2 SCLPG British English a law or decision that is retrospective is effective from a particular date in the past SYN retroactive retrospective legislation Teachers settled for a 4.2% pay rise with retrospective effect from 1 April. —retrospectively adverb The new rule will be applied retrospectively.
Examples from the Corpus
retrospective• Every artist should be allowed to design the retrospective box set that will define a lifetime, as has Santana.• But it was thirty-one years later and recent scholarship has questioned whether the anecdote might not have been a retrospective invention.• a retrospective look at the 1974 election• It adds some retrospective poignancy to our story, I think, and possibly some connection to Emerson's universe.• But now we see that even the absence of law is no guarantee against the possibility of retrospective regulation.• Perpetrators are almost exclusively male, though a few women are reported, particularly in retrospective studies.with retrospective effect• The Association of University Teachers settled for 4.2% this autumn, with retrospective effect from 1 April 1992.• Companies come into existence by registration with retrospective effect to the date of the contract.retrospectiveretrospective2 noun [countable] AVa show of the work of an artist, actor, film-maker etc that includes examples of all the kinds of work they have done a Hitchcock retrospectiveretrospective of a retrospective of painter Hans HofmannExamples from the Corpus
retrospective• The retrospective includes 10 of the 12 films written and directed by Sturges.• He exhibited at Betty Parson's gallery and wo Whitney retrospectives of his work were held in 1963 and 1974.From Longman Business Dictionaryretrospectiveret‧ro‧spec‧tive /ˌretrəˈspektɪv◂/ adjectiveLAW a law or decision that is retrospective is effective from a particular date in the pastSYNRETROACTIVEThe bank tried to persuade the government to enact retrospective legislation to legalize the contracts. —retrospectively adverb 