retroactive
The adjective retroactive refers to something happening now that affects the past. For example, a retroactive tax is one that is passed at one time, but payable back to a time before the tax was passed.
The Latin word retroagere, an ancestor of the adjective retroactive, means "drive or turn back," and goes along with the meaning of the word. Sometimes governments pass rulings that are set as if they were in effect before the ruling was even made, and that means they are retroactive. On the bright side, you might be awarded a salary raise that is retroactive, meaning you'll get paid more for work you did in the past. And, retroactive fads in clothing keep vintage clothing stores in business.
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affecting things past“retroactive tax increase”synonyms: ex post facto, retroretrospectiveconcerned with or related to the past
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descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on the effects of events or stimuli or process that occurred previouslyantonyms:proactivedescriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on events or stimuli or processes that occur subsequently
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Vocabulary lists containing retroactive
Arnold Spirit, Jr., a young cartoonist who lives on the Spokane Indian reservation, decides to transfer to a school in which he will be the only American Indian student.
In this dystopian novel, sixteen-year-old Connor has been slated to be "unwound" and have his organs donated — until he runs away and joins up with two other fugitive teenagers.
Bryan Stevenson details his experiences as a defense attorney, focusing on the case of Walter McMillian, who insisted on his innocence even after he was sentenced to the death penalty. This book provides an eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at how the criminal justice system works — or doesn't.