RETROSPECTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does retrospection mean? 

• RETROSPECTION (noun)
  The noun RETROSPECTION has 2 senses:

1. reference to things past

2. memory for experiences that are past

  Familiarity information: RETROSPECTION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RETROSPECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reference to things past

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

the story begins with no introductory retrospections

Hypernyms ("retrospection" is a kind of...):

mention; reference (a remark that calls attention to something or someone)

Derivation:

retrospect (look back upon (a period of time, sequence of events); remember)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Memory for experiences that are past

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

some psychologists tried to contrast retrospection and introspection

Hypernyms ("retrospection" is a kind of...):

memory; remembering (the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered)

Derivation:

retrospect (look back upon (a period of time, sequence of events); remember)

 Context examples 

Your retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He was roused from the reverie of retrospection and regret produced by it, by some inquiry from Edmund as to his plans for the next day's hunting; and he found it was as well to be a man of fortune at once with horses and grooms at his command.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

And there, as they slowly paced the gradual ascent, heedless of every group around them, seeing neither sauntering politicians, bustling housekeepers, flirting girls, nor nursery-maids and children, they could indulge in those retrospections and acknowledgements, and especially in those explanations of what had directly preceded the present moment, which were so poignant and so ceaseless in interest.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)