RETROACTIVE Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

retroactive

adjective

Definition of retroactive

as in retrospective

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of retroactive But that doesn’t necessarily mean the sides would not work out a retroactive grant if games were canceled. — Evan Drellich, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026 The works cited were made before the law’s creation, and this case represents one of its first retroactive applications. — News Desk, Artforum, 25 Aug. 2026 Proposition 42 would outlaw retroactive taxation, directly countering Proposition 40 and killing the wealth tax. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2026 Summary Thousands of student loan borrowers face massive backlogs in the PSLF Buyback program, designed to grant retroactive credit towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness so that borrowers can get their student loans forgiven. — Adam S. Minsky, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for retroactive

Recent Examples of Synonyms for retroactive

Adjective

Strong reimbursement intelligence will achieve this with AI models that blend prospective and retrospective intelligence together.

— Terry Goertz, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026
This extreme foregrounding of character in terms of action endows the cast with a retrospective air of typecasting, in a positive sense—the actors seem made for their parts, coalescing with their characters temperamentally.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of retrospective

Adjective

This technical benchmark comes from an analytical study conducted by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory.

— Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 6 Sep. 2026
His occasional free-agent splurges obscured an organizational myopia that left his team with scant investments in staffing, analytical advancements and technological necessities.

— Andy McCullough, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of analytic

Adjective

Dash, 2026, the forty-seven-minute, two-channel essay-film at the project’s core, is filled with quiet, almost meditative scenes of machines tilling the land that initially conjure a faux-pastoral aesthetic register.

— Pablo Larios, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026
The now-familiar blend of folk, soul, and psychedelia dominates the album aesthetically, though James took spiritual cues from recordings of meditative organ performances by Alice Coltrane.

— Ryan Leas, Pitchfork, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of meditative

Adjective

Be sure to plan your trip around mid-to-late October, when autumnal foliage is at its peak, and hit hiking trails that come alive with color, like the Croda da Lago Circuit and its reflective alpine lake, Lago di Federa.

— Jessica Sulima, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Sep. 2026
Its reflective surface changes with the light, the weather, and the movement of the people who encounter it.

— Leigh Nordstrom, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of reflective

Adjective

We are asked constantly to dilate and contract—to adjust from contemplative darkness to the California sun, from specific detail to overarching conceit, from stillness to activity.

— Katy Barkan, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026
In a voice at once biting and contemplative, eerie and funny, Kasischke crafts poems in which nothing is ever stable or resolved.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of contemplative

Adjective

Large language models train on amalgamated content from millions of writers to predict the next logical word.

— Marissa Brassfield, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026
The decision to launch a separate block of programming aimed at those viewers, filled with raunchy cartoons that actively subverted nostalgia and violent anime that couldn’t be shown during daytime hours, was logical.

— Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of logical

Adjective

But the book’s ruminative watchfulness is unsuccessfully conjugated in this overly sedate play with music, which has the feel of a song cycle, though sung by the fine cast with gorgeous, lonely sorrow.

— Brian Seibert, New Yorker, 19 June 2026
Their ruminative hush sets them apart in an era of instant-gratification drops.

— Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 15 June 2026

Definition of ruminative

Browse Nearby Words

retro

retroactive

retrofit

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Retroactive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retroactive. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of retroactive

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

quorum

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Games & Quizzes