Re`tro*spec"tive (?), a. [Cf. F. r'etrospectif.]
1.
Looking backward; contemplating things past; -- opposed to prospective; as, a retrospective view.
The sage, with retrospective eye.
Pope.
2.
Having reference to what is past; affecting things past; retroactive; as, a retrospective law.
Inflicting death by a retrospective enactment.
Macaulay.
© Webster 1913.