Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 31, 2025 is:
 
 
 
 
 retrospective &#149; \reh-truh-SPEK-tiv\&nbsp; &#149; adjective
 Retrospective describes something that relates to the past or to something that happened in the past.

// The museum has curated a retrospective exhibit of the artist's early works.

<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrospective">See the entry ></a>
 
 
 
 Examples:
 "Our retrospective sense of time hinges on memory: Periods rich in novel, significant experiences feel longer, while routine collapses duration ..." — Marc Wittmann, Psychology Today, 16 Nov. 2025 
 
 
 
 Did you know?
 At the year's end, both introspection and retrospection are common. While <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/introspection">introspection</a> involves looking inward and taking stock of oneself, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrospection">retrospection</a> is all about recollecting and contemplating things that happened in the past. A look back at the history of the related adjective retrospective reveals that it retains a strong connection to its past: its Latin source is retrospicere, meaning "to look back at." Retrospective can also be used <a href="https://bit.ly/3KGMNwm">as a noun</a> referring to an exhibition that "looks back" at an artist's work created over a span of years. Once you have retrospective and retrospection behind you, you can also add their kin <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrospect">retrospect</a> (most familiar in the phrase in retrospect to describe thinking about the past or something that happened in the past) and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retro">retro</a> (usually meaning "fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned") to your vocabulary, too.

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