Meaning & use

looking back

phrase·Everyday

Reflecting on or reconsidering past events, often with new understanding or feeling.

See it in a sentence

Looking back, I realize how much I learned from that difficult year.

Looking back on their childhood, the sisters laughed at their old arguments.

A note on using this word

This phrase often opens a sentence to signal that the speaker is evaluating the past from a present-day perspective.

Words with a similar meaning

in retrospectreflecting

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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