It's the word of the day for December 31st.

Today's word is retrospective, spelled R-E-T-R-E-R-O-S-P-E-E-C-T-I-V-E.

Retrospective is an adjective.

It describes something that relates to the past or to something that happened in the past.

Here's the word used in a sentence from psychology today.

Our retrospective sense of time hinges on memory.

Periods rich in novel, significant experiences feel longer, while routine collapses duration. At the year's end, both introspection and retrospection are common. While introspection

involves looking inward and taking stock of oneself, retrospection is all about recollecting and contemplating

things that happened in the past. A look back at the history of the related adjective retrospective

reveals that it retains a strong connection to its past. Its Latin source is retrospectory,

meaning to look back at. Retrospective can also be used as a noun,

referring to an exhibition that looks back at an artist's work created over a span of years.

Once you have retrospective and retrospection behind you, you can also add their kin retrospect,

most familiar in the phrase in retrospect,

to describe thinking about the past or something that happened in the past.

And retro, usually meaning fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned to your vocabulary, too.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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