posterity

C2 Topic:People & Society

US /pɑːˈstɛrəti/ UK /pɒˈstɛɹɪti/ See IPA manual

Freq #21420

Meanings

1

noun
All future generations of people.

These ancient documents have been carefully preserved for posterity.
2

noun
The descendants of a particular person or family.

He hoped his name would live on through his posterity.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · the descendants of a... descendants

Word family

Forms posterities

Etymology

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

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# posterity

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /pɑːˈstɛrəti/
**IPA (UK):** /pɒˈstɛɹɪti/
**Frequency rank:** 21420

## Meanings
1. All future generations of people.
2. The descendants of a particular person or family.

## Examples
- These ancient documents have been carefully preserved for posterity.
- He hoped his name would live on through his posterity.

## Related Forms
- post-

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

## AI Etymology
Posterity is recorded in late 14th century, from Middle French posterité, from Latin posteritas, from posterus (“following, coming after”), from post (“after”) (English post-). Current senses include all future generations of people and the descendants of a particular person or family. The wider family includes related words such as post-.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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