posthumous

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“
My father was what is generally termed a posthumous child -- in other words, the _gentillatre_ who begot him never had the satisfaction of invoking the blessing of the Father of All upon his head, having departed this life some months before the birth of his youngest son.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Occurring or continuing after one's death: a posthumous award.
  2. adjective Published after the writer's death: a posthumous book.
  3. adjective Born after the death of the father: a posthumous child.
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Examples (50)

  • To you, my dear Summerlee, belongs the honour--posthumous, alas, but none the less unique--of having given a name to the universal destroyer, the Great Gardener's disinfectant. —  The First Men In The Moon
  • My father was what is generally termed a posthumous child—in other words, the gentillâtre who begot him never had the satisfaction of invoking the blessing of the Father of All upon his head; having departed this life some months before the birth of his youngest son. —  Lavengro
  • The Batman Begins sequel was released in July and has shattered box office records, while rumours persisted that Heath Ledger could be in the running for a posthumous Academy award for his portrayal of The Joker. —  ContactMusic Ltd | Latest News
  • The studio recording will also be posthumous ( '' War Heroes '' released in '72). —  Latest reviews @ Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
  • The final sequence, (as a posthumous homage in Andrei Tarkovsky's memory) when the midst vanishes is one of the most extraordinary dazzling moments in the whole history of the cinema. —  Amazon Online News and Classifieds
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English posthumus, from Late Latin, alteration (perhaps influenced by Latin humus, earth or humāre, to bury) of postumus, superlative of posterus, coming after; see posterior.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Prop. postumous; = French posthume = Spanish póstumo = Portuguese posthumo = Italian postumo, from Latin postumus, last, applied especially to the youngest children or to one born after the father's death (“qui post patris mortem natus est”); also written, erroneously, posthumus, simulating a derivation from post humum, literally ‘after the ground,’ but forced into the sense of ‘after the father has been put into the ground,’ i. e. inhumed, buried; properly superlative of posterus, coming after: see posterior.
 

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/ˈpɑstʃjuməs/
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