postjudge

Etymology

From post- + judge.

Why this word is great

POSTJUDGE — [Verb] To judge or form an opinion after the fact, in contrast to prejudging. From the prefix post- ("after") + judge ("to form an opinion or conclusion about"). Unlike "prejudge" (to decide before evidence is known) or "reevaluate" (to reconsider neutrally), "postjudge" carries the quiet weight of hindsight’s inevitability. It is the historian’s sigh over a war’s avoidable folly, the parent’s rueful shake of the head at their own youthful missteps, or the way we all, in the end, measure our lives against the cold ledger of what might have been—knowing too late what we should have known all along.

verb

  1. Used to contrast with "prejudge": To judge after the fact.“In making this personal statement of my views, to which you are entitled, nothing that I say is intended either to postjudge the past or to prejudge the future.”