afterthought.
A reflection after an act; a later or subsequent thought, action, or expedient.
Meaning & usage
A reflection after an act; a later or subsequent thought, action, or expedient.
She packed her sandals only as an afterthought, but she was glad she did.
Something additional to the original plan or concept.
This whole remodeling was an afterthought; we were only going to paint and call it good.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep(o)teros Proto-Germanic *after Old English æfter Middle English after English after ▲ Old English æfter Old English æfter- Middle English after- English after- Proto-Indo-European *teng-der. Proto-Germanic *þankijaną Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht Old English þōht Middle English thought English thought English afterthought From after- + thought, probably modelled on forethought. Compare also the verb afterthink.
To expound as an afterthought.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep(o)teros Proto-Germanic *after Old English æfter Middle English after English after ▲ Old English æfter Old English æfter- Middle English after- English after- Proto-Indo-European *teng-der. Proto-Germanic *þankijaną Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz Proto-West Germanic *þą̄ht Old English þōht Middle English thought English thought English afterthought From after- + thought, probably modelled on forethought. Compare also the verb afterthink.
simple past and past participle of afterthink
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.