posterity

pos·ter·i·ty

noun \pä-ˈster-ə-tē\

Definition of POSTERITY

1

: the offspring of one progenitor to the furthest generation

2

: all future generations

Examples of POSTERITY

1. Posterity will remember her as a woman of courage and integrity.
2. A record of the events was preserved for posterity.
3. The truth about what happened will be known to posterity.
4. Her broad aim is to reconcile the image of Johnson—the clubbable man, loved by posterity as well as by his contemporaries—and the man racked by disease and tormented by his fear of madness. —Frank Kermode, New York Review of Books, 22 June 2006
5. Posterity looks for hooks to hang old reputations on … —John Updike, New York Review of Books, 15 July 2004
6. The restructuring of the New York Yankees began five days after that broken-bat bloop by Luis Gonzalez parachuted to posterity behind second base, clinching the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks and breaking the Yankees' run of three titles. —Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 24-31 Dec. 2001
7. It was puzzling to own trees—they were not owned the way a business is owned or even a house is owned. If anything, they were held in trust. In trust. Yes, for all of posterity, beginning with Merry and her kids. —Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997

Origin of POSTERITY

Middle English posterite, from Anglo-French pusterité, from Latin posteritat-, posteritas, from posterus coming after

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to POSTERITY

Synonyms

fruit, get, issue, offspring, progeny, seed, spawn

Related Words

brood, hatch, litter, young; child, scion; family, kin; lineage, stock

Near Antonyms

ancestor, antecedent, father, forebear (also forbear), forebearer, forefather, grandfather, parent, primogenitor, progenitor

Other Genetics Terms

chimera, hermaphrodite, plasticity

Rhymes with POSTERITY

alterity, asperity, austerity, celerity, dexterity, legerity, prosperity, severity, sincerity, temerity