aftermath

noun af·ter·math \ -ˌmath \

|Updated on: 24 Jul 2018

Examples: aftermath in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Breaking Down aftermath

Definition of aftermath

1 : a second-growth crop — called also rowen

2 : consequence, result

stricken with guilt as an aftermath of the accident

3 : the period immediately following a usually ruinous event

in the aftermath of the war

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Examples of aftermath in a Sentence

the surgery was successful, but she now had to deal with its aftermath: a huge bill

Recent Examples of aftermath from the Web

And in the aftermath of the 2016 election, both campaign finance experts and GOP operatives were warning that outside money is only effective if candidates themselves also raise cash.

— alana abramson, Time, "This Republican Super PAC Raised $51 Million to Try and Save the Party's House Majority," 12 July 2018
Bruce also announced a $10,000 contribution from the Lions Club International Foundation which was given to support recovery in the aftermath of the recent flooding in Ellicott City.

— tracy trobridge, Howard County Times, "Glenwood Lions Club recognizes police and fire heroes [Glenwood/Glenelg/Dayton]," 12 July 2018
It was formed in the aftermath of World War II where there was poisonous nationalism that caused two world wars in the twentieth century that killed more than 100 million people.

— Fox News, "Meadows, Dershowitz react after Lisa Page defies subpoena," 12 July 2018
Uresti’s political and professional life have crumbled in the aftermath of his conviction.

— patrick danner, San Antonio Express-News, "Judge refuses to appoint Uresti’s lawyer of choice for appeal," 12 July 2018
The book is set in the aftermath of an alien invasion, and follows Violet, a transgender girl who has escaped capture and discovered that an alien parasite has given her strange powers.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "A transgender girl rises up against alien invaders in Rich Larson’s novel Annex," 8 July 2018
In the aftermath of Kennedy’s retirement, a number of leftist/liberal writers echoed Faris’s arguments.

— dylan matthews, Vox, "Court-packing, Democrats’ nuclear option for the Supreme Court, explained," 2 July 2018
The public servant in him, the impulse that led him to the presidency in the first place, has thrived in the aftermath of his former Beltway imprisonment.

— michael paterniti, GQ, "Jimmy Carter for Higher Office," 26 June 2018
The financial industry actions came amid a broader pushback by corporate America in the aftermath of the Florida shooting.

— lisa marie pane, Anchorage Daily News, "Corporate America increasingly avoids gun-industry business," 25 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aftermath.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Breaking Down aftermath

Aftermath dates to the late 1400s and was originally an agricultural term. Its two parts are transparent—but only if you're familiar with an ancient word math that is now used only in British dialectal English and that means "a mowing of a grass or hay crop" and also refers to the crop that is gathered. The original aftermath came, of course, after the math: it was historically the crop of (usually) grass cut, grazed, or plowed under after the first crop of the season from the same soil. It wasn't until the mid-late 1600s that aftermath developed its other meanings, both of which are now far more common than the first.

Origin and Etymology of aftermath

after- + math "mowing," going back to Middle English *math, going back to a short-vowel variant (perhaps of Germanic date) of Old English mǣþ, going back to Germanic *mēþa- (whence Old Saxon mād- —in māddag "mowing day"—, Old High German āmād "aftermath"), derivative with the nominal suffix *-to- from the base of *mēan- "to ²mow"

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year