afterwit
nounEtymology From after- + wit.
1
Wisdom which comes after the event.
- After wits are dearely bought, / Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought.1595, Robert Southwell, “Losse in Delayes”, in Saint Peters Complaynt With Other Poems, London: Gabriel Cawood, page 50:
- 1692, Roger L’Estrange (translator), Fables of Æsop, London: R. Sare et al., Fable 162, “A Nightingale and a Bat,” There’s No Recalling of what’s Gone and Past; so that After-Wit comes too Late when the Mischief is Done.
2 more examples
- Trust me, dear Yorick, this unwary pleasantry of thine will sooner or later bring thee into scrapes and difficulties, which no after-wit can extricate thee out of.1760, Laurence Sterne, chapter 12, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume 1, page 63:
- There is always a danger of afterwit in estimating the early achievements of men who have achieved fame […].1894, “On the Relation of Tennyson’s Life to His Works”, in M. F. Libby, editor, Selections from Tennyson, Toronto: Copp, Clark, page 11:
2
The lack of forethought.
3
A good comeback, retort one thinks of only after the end of discussion or after leaving a social gathering.