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posterity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Late 14th century, from Middle French posterité, from Latin posteritas, from posterus (“following, coming after”), from post (“after”) (English post-).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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posterity (usually uncountable, plural posterities)

  1. All the future generations, especially the descendants of a specific person.
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 252:
      That woman foretold and inflicted a singular disease on Sigvard and his posterity till the ninth generation, and several of his descendants are to this day afflicted with it.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
  2. (transferred sense, almost always preceded by for) Future audiences, future times, future recognition.
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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “posterity”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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