post factumadv.adj.
/ˌpəʊs(t)ˈfaktəm/, U.S. /ˌpoʊs(t)ˈfækt(ə)m/ A. adv.
After the event; with hindsight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > after, afterwards, or later > after the event or after the fact
upon the postfact1631
ex post facto1632
post factum1649
post facto1650
post hoc1844
post eventum1846
après coup1871
post festum1887
1649 2nd Pt. Relig. Demurrer 8 We cannot close with such a party (we think,) but we become accessaries, post factum, to what perhaps it is impossible, at present, to be helped.
1692 J. Locke Some Consid. Money 12 Unless you intend to break in only upon Mortgages and Contracts already made, and (which is not to be supposed) by a Law, post factum, void Bargains lawfully made.
1704 Answer of Merchants-petitioners 128 The Books produced by the House of Rigby were made up and contrived post factum, and after the Imprisonment of Plowman, to entitle them to make Demands upon the Grand Duke.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. vii. 44 Reasonings post factum, argue rather our experience than our wisdom.
1888 Times 8 May 5/2 The president of the Court-martial which tried Major Popoff would have done better to enforce his opinions upon his colleagues on the bench than to have stated them post factum in private conversation.
1892 Polit. Sci. Q. 7 702 The Senate permits the courts to certify post factum that the formalities not mentioned in the protocol were actually complied with.
1927 Mod. Philol. Nov. 227 New locutions..constantly replace old ones, which viewed post factum, would have been unintelligible, had they remained in use.
1964 V. Nabokov Defence viii. 125 I'm very glad post factum..but..for the moment it somehow disturbs me.
1995 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 16 Feb. 28/2 Schoenberg himself proceeded in this manner, unlike Schumann or Debussy who often invented their titles post factum.
B. adj.
Occurring, existing, etc., after the event; done with hindsight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adjective] > later > after the event
post facto1576
post-fact1625
post factum1851
1851 Encycl. Americana VII. 505/1 In this post factum prophecy, the overthrow of the tyrant of the world and his faction, and the triumph of legitimacy, were announced.
1893 Scribner's Mag Feb. 225/2 With our post factum knowledge we cannot but see in its bold and skilful foreshortenings the germs of those exaggerations which in later days accelerated the decadence.
1949 A. Koestler Insight & Outlook p. vii But textbooks are post-factum rearrangements of long and devious processes of inquiry.
1972 New Yorker 16 Jan. 28/2 Not wanting to use the police emergency number—911—in a post-factum situation.
1995 O. Lee First Intermissions xvii. 183 Some of these stories sound suspiciously like post factum biography.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.1649