afterthought

noun

af·ter·thought | \ -ˌthȯt

Definition of afterthought

1 : an idea occurring later

2 : something (such as a part or feature) not thought of originally : something secondary

Examples of afterthought in a Sentence

Then I remembered, almost as an afterthought, to feed the cat. The fact was hidden deep in the report, almost as an afterthought. The lounge was added to the office as an afterthought.

Recent Examples on the Web

When there's a world of wonderful Italian cheeses out there, an offering of mozzarella, Parmesan, chèvre and Brie feels like a lazy afterthought. — Dominic Armato, azcentral, "The Sicilian Butcher: 908 ways to eat meatballs at Maggiore's new Italian restaurant. But are they good?," 10 Apr. 2018 Jake Arrieta was an afterthought trade to the Cubs. — Sam Mellinger, kansascity, "The Royal Way back: How Dayton Moore intends to build his second championship team | The Kansas City Star," 21 Mar. 2018 All of this came out of a brainstorming session from the league and players' union after a ridiculous display at last year's All-Star Game win which the winning team scored 192 points and effort was a distant afterthought. — Joe Vardon, cleveland.com, "Kyrie Irving points to $100,000 All-Star payout while LeBron James, others rave about new format," 19 Feb. 2018 The other, purchased as an afterthought along with a Diet Coke during a stop for gas in Riverdale, New Jersey, netted him a $533 million prize, the fourth largest in the game's history and one of the 10 largest jackpots ever. — Carlie Kollath Wells, NOLA.com, "Powerball ticket worth $50,000 sold in Metairie. Here's where.," 30 Apr. 2018 Building humanities and social sciences—in which Europe has a strong tradition—into AI can help make sure that ethics is an integral part of these developments, rather than a detached musing or an afterthought, Gras adds. — Tania Rabesandratana, Science | AAAS, "With €1.5 billion for artificial intelligence research, Europe pins hopes on ethics," 25 Apr. 2018 Or maybe just an afterthought amid a home-opening series celebrating the team’s World Series championship. — Chandler Rome, Houston Chronicle, "Former Astros' Colby Rasmus receives warm reception from fans," 4 Apr. 2018 Council races would be nonpartisan afterthoughts, so the argument went, on ballots loaded with high-profile partisan contests. — Gilbert Garcia, San Antonio Express-News, "Old Charter Review Commission was lukewarm on Nirenberg election plan," 29 Mar. 2018 Desserts come from Ettore’s and are very much afterthoughts. — Kate Washington, sacbee, "Punch Bowl Social takes ‘eatertainment’ to a whole new level | The Sacramento Bee," 23 Mar. 2018

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