afterwit

plural afterwits · alternative after-wit

1. countableuncountableWisdom which comes after the event.

   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.

   3 more examples

   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

   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. countableuncountableThe lack of forethought.

   Antonyms: forewit

3. countableuncountableA good comeback, retort one thinks of only after the end of discussion or after leaving a social gathering.

   Synonyms: l'esprit de l'escalier, staircase wit, (neologism) retrotort