Etymology

Noun

1. consideration of past times
   • 1853, Charlotte Bronte, "Villette":

     My mind, calmer and stronger now than last night, made for itself some imperious rules, prohibiting under deadly penalties all weak retrospect of happiness past; commanding a patient journeying through the wilderness of the present...

   • 1976, Terry Kay, The Year the Lights Came On, 1989 University of Georgia Press edition, ISBN 0820311286, page 298:

     Whether, like Colin, in retrospect Willie Lee and Baptist would feel that what has vanished was greater than what was achieved, is not something we can predict.

Verb

1. To look or refer back to; to reflect on
   • 1804: Alexander Hamilton, Letter to John Adams (Bartlett) - To give a correct idea of the circumstances.., it may be useful to retrospect to an early period.