afterward

afterward — adverb

1. following the event or moment that has just been mentioned, often with no specif

1.adverbB1
Definition

following the event or moment that has just been mentioned, often with no specific gap stated.

Example

Ramón watched the basketball game and went straight to bed afterward.

clause + afterward (final position)

The wedding ended at six, and afterward the guests danced under string lights.

afterward + clause linking sequential events

Common collocations
  • shortly afterward
  • soon afterward
  • long afterward
  • immediately afterward
  • years afterward
Synonyms
  • later

    more general; can refer to any future point, not necessarily tied to a previous event

  • subsequently

    more formal; common in writing and formal speech

  • thereafter

    very formal, mostly written; often used in legal or academic prose

  • then

    shorter and more casual; tightly chains the next event

Antonyms
  • beforehand

    describes time prior to the mentioned event

  • previously

    more formal opposite, refers to an earlier point

Grammar Patterns

clause + afterward

afterward + clause

Usage Note

Most common at the end of a clause. When placed at the start ("Afterward, …"), it usually links the new clause back to a sequence already described in the previous sentence. The form ending in -s ("afterwards") is more frequent in British English; "afterward" is more typical in American English.

Common Mistakes

Afterward of the meeting we had lunch.
After the meeting we had lunch.
'afterward' is an adverb and never takes 'of'; use the preposition 'after' before a noun phrase.
Two hours afterward the movie, she called me.
Two hours after the movie, she called me.
to mark a gap before a named event use 'after'; 'afterward' refers back to something already mentioned, not to a noun that follows it.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

All five words point to a moment that follows another, but they differ in tone and tightness. 'Afterward' looks back to a specific event already described, and is neutral in register: 'We watched the film, and afterward walked home.' 'Later' is more open — the new moment may be minutes or years away, and need not be tied to a single prior event ('I'll call you later'). 'Subsequently' and 'thereafter' are formal; you meet them in reports, contracts, and academic writing rather than chat. 'Thereafter' often signals a lasting state that began at the prior moment ('She moved to Lisbon in 2010 and lived there thereafter'). 'Then' is the most casual and chains events tightly ('We ate, then watched a movie'), without the slight pause 'afterward' suggests.

afterward ↗later ↗subsequently ↗thereafter ↗then ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

Phrases

  • years afterward
  • moments afterward
  • the day afterward

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

Built from the Old English 'æfter' (meaning 'after, behind, later') plus the directional ending '-weard' (meaning 'turned toward, in the direction of'), which also gives modern English forms like 'forward' and 'backward'. The combined sense is roughly 'turned toward what comes after'. The variant 'afterwards', with an added '-s' from older adverbial endings, became more common in British use, while American English settled on the shorter 'afterward'.