posthumous
UK /ˈpɒs.t͡ʃʊ.məs/ · US /ˈpɑs.t͡ʃə.məs/ adjective
Forms post-humous postumous
- adjective After the death of someone.
- adjective Taking place after one's own death. “Artists obscure during their life often receive posthumous recognition, too late for them to enjoy.”
- adjective In reference to a work, published after the author's death. “His memoirs were his posthumous revenge on enemies he dared not take on alive.”
- adjective In reference to a musical opus, published or initially performed after the composer's death.
- adjective (originally) Born after the death of one's father. “Posthumous orphans never even knew their fathers.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Latin posthumus, a variant spelling of postumus, superlative form of posterus (“coming after”), the ⟨h⟩ added by association with humus (“ground, earth”) referring to burial.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Born after the death of the father, or taken from the dead body of the mother; as, a posthumous son or daughter.
- adjective Published after the death of the author; as, posthumous works; a posthumous edition.
Etymology [L. posthumus, postumus, properly, last; hence, late born (applied to children born after the father's death, or after he had made his will), superl. of posterus, posterior. See Posterior.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “posthumous”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details