American Heritage Dictionary Entry: after HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com af·ter (ăftər) Share: Tweet prep. 1. a. Behind in place or order: Z comes after Y in the alphabet. b. Next to or lower than in order or importance. 2. In quest or pursuit of: seek after fame; go after big money. 3. Concerning: asked after you. 4. Subsequent in time to; at a later time than: come after dinner. 5. Subsequent to and because of or regardless of: They are still friends after all their differences. 6. Following continually: year after year. 7. In the style of or in imitation of: satires after Horace. 8. With the same or close to the same name as; in honor or commemoration of: named after her mother. 9. According to the nature or desires of; in conformity to: a tenor after my own heart. 10. Past the hour of: five minutes after three. 11. Irish Used with a present participle to indicate action that has just been completed: "Sure I'm after seeing him not five minutes ago" (James Joyce). adv. 1. Behind; in the rear. 2. At a later or subsequent time; afterward: three hours after; departed shortly after. adj. 1. Subsequent in time or place; later; following: in after years. 2. Located near the stern of a vessel or the rear or an aircraft or spacecraft. conj. Following or subsequent to the time that: I saw them after I arrived. n. 1. Afternoon. 2. afters Chiefly British Dessert.Idiom: after all 1. In spite of everything to the contrary; nevertheless: We chose to take the train after all. 2. Everything else having been considered; ultimately: A car is after all a means of transportation. [Middle English, from Old English æfter; see apo- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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