Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective Informal.
- retroactive: retro pay.
- of or designating the style of an earlier time: retro clothes.
- a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin meaning “backward” (retrogress); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (retrorocket).
noun plural -ros
- short for retrorocket
adjective
- denoting something associated with or revived from the pastretro dressing; retro fashion
prefix
- back or backwardsretroactive
- located behindretrolental
1974, from French rétro (1973), supposedly first used of a revival c.1968 of Eva Peron-inspired fashions and short for rétrograde (see retrograde). There is an isolated use in English from 1768, and the word apparently was used in 19c. French as a term in billiards. As a noun, short for retro-rocket (1948) from 1961.
word-forming element meaning “backwards; behind,” from Latin retro (prep.) “backward, back, behind,” also of time, “formerly, in past times,” probably originally the ablative form of *reteros, based on re- “back” (see re-).
L. retro stands to re- as intro, “in, within”; to in, “in,” and as citro, “hither,” stands to cis, “on this side.” [Klein]
Common in combinations in post-classical Latin (the classical equivalent was post-). Active in English as a word-forming element from mid-20c.
pref.
- Backward; back:retroposition.
- Situated behind:retroperitoneum.