posterity

noun

pos·​ter·​i·​ty pä-ˈster-ə-tē 

1

: the offspring of one progenitor to the furthest generation

2

: all future generations

Did you know?

When you envision the future, what do you imagine people doing? Zooming about in flying cars? Taking interstellar vacations across the galaxy? Whatever those people of the future get up to, if you’re doing something for posterity, you’re doing it for them. Posterity has referred to all future generations in a general sense since the 16th century. When it was first used in the 14th century, however, posterity referred to all of someone’s offspring, down to the furthest generation. It’s this use we hear in the preamble to the US Constitution: “We the People ... in Order to ... secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Posterity comes—as all words do—not from the future but from the past, specifically from the Latin word posterus, meaning “coming after.” Other notable and perhaps surprising descendants of posterus include preposterous (“absurd”) and posterior (“buttocks”). Who could have foreseen that?

Synonyms

• fruit
• get
• issue
• offspring
• progeny
• seed
• spawn

Examples of posterity in a Sentence

Her broad aim is to reconcile the image of Johnson—the clubbable man, loved by posterity as well as by his contemporaries—and the man racked by disease and tormented by his fear of madness. —Frank Kermode, New York Review of Books, 22 June 2006

Posterity looks for hooks to hang old reputations on … —John Updike, New York Review of Books, 15 July 2004

The restructuring of the New York Yankees began five days after that broken-bat bloop by Luis Gonzalez parachuted to posterity behind second base, clinching the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks and breaking the Yankees' run of three titles. —Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 24-31 Dec. 2001

It was puzzling to own trees—they were not owned the way a business is owned or even a house is owned. If anything, they were held in trust. In trust. Yes, for all of posterity, beginning with Merry and her kids. —Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997

Posterity will remember her as a woman of courage and integrity.

A record of the events was preserved for posterity.

The truth about what happened will be known to posterity.

Recent Examples on the Web

When the site was eventually sold to IKEA after the dog-racing had also come to an end and Eastville was demolished in 1998, a decision was taken to leave one of the floodlight pylons standing for posterity. —Richard Sutcliffe, The Athletic, 12 Aug. 2024

Getting the archive into institutional hands is, of course, the act of someone who is considering posterity. —Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2024

The change to the official transcript drew objections from the stenographers who are charged with documenting the president’s remarks for posterity, the Associated Press reported, citing two government officials and an internal email obtained by the news agency. —Michael Collins, USA TODAY, 1 Nov. 2024

Watching in horror as the city made plans to bury the buried and raze the tombstones, Trinity in late 1897 sent John Watson, a sexton of the nearby St. John’s Chapel, to record information from the cemetery’s headstones for posterity. —Christina Ray Stanton, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English posterite, from Anglo-French pusterité, from Latin posteritat-, posteritas, from posterus coming after

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

posterity

noun

pos·​ter·​i·​ty pä-ˈster-ət-ē 

1

: the line of individuals descended from one ancestor

2

: all future generations

Legal Definition

posterity

noun

pos·​ter·​i·​ty pä-ˈster-ə-tē 

1

: all of the lineal descendants of a person

2

: all future generations