post hoc
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: posthoc
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adjective[edit]
post hoc (comparative more post hoc, superlative most post hoc)
- After the fact.
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1986, Ralph B. Taylor, Urban neighborhoods: research and policy, page 239:
- Our work on using research was post hoc rather than planned as an integral part of the original study.
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2001, Penelope Eckert, Style and sociolinguistic variation, page 155:
- The interpretations offered in this section are clearly much more post hoc than in my discussion of the informants' patterns.
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2008, Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric disturbances, page 40:
- But I knew that my reasoning was post hoc, and another voice came in, mocking me, reminding me that post hoc reasoning is the consolation of the psychotic
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Adverb[edit]
post hoc (comparative more post hoc, superlative most post hoc)
- After the fact.
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2005 Fall, David B. Rivkin Jr., “THE VIRTUES OF PREEMPTIVE DETERRENCE”, in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, volume 29, page 85:
- Ultimately, the wisdom of preemption will be judged post hoc.
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Usage notes[edit]
- Often written in italics (post hoc), or pronounced as a foreign word.
Translations[edit]
after the fact
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Etymology 2[edit]
From Latin post hoc ergo propter hoc
Noun[edit]
- An instance of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, in which temporal order is confused with causation.
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1919, George Saintsbury, A History of the French novel (to the close of the 19th century), page 422:
- or that it is altogether fair to accumulate the post hocs with their inevitable suggestion of propter
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1958, Stuart Chase, Guides to straight thinking: with 13 common fallacies - Page 76:
- More grim were the post hocs of the ancient Aztecs. In their experience rain had followed the season of sacrificial rites, and they believed that ....
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1966, Lew Sarett, Basic principles of speech, page 302:
- ... or walking under a ladder brings bad luck; belief in astrology; fear of the number thirteen. Advertisers play upon our weakness for post hocs
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2006, Gerd Gigerenzer; Christoph Engel, Heuristics and the law, page 332:
- Accordingly, most of the time it is sufficient to draw lines of post hocs and to make a distinction between causes and symptoms in an almost graphic way.
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2008, Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric disturbances, page 40:
- But I knew that my reasoning was post hoc, and another voice came in, mocking me, reminding me that post hoc reasoning is the consolation of the psychotic
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Usage notes[edit]
- Often written in italics (post hoc), or pronounced as a foreign word.
- Often used attributively.
