Knowledge or understanding that comes after an event has occurred, especially understanding that something could have been done differently if known in advance.
Compound of 'after' (Old English æfter) and 'knowledge' (Old English cnawlæc, from cnawan meaning to know). Formed to describe hindsight and retrospective understanding.
Afterknowledge is essentially hindsight—it's the basis for why we say '20/20 vision' about the past, and it reveals a quirk of human psychology: we're terrible at distinguishing between what we knew then and what we know now!
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