after

Less common meanings

7. 7
   preposition

   Used to show that something lies beyond a given place, farther on along the same road or route.

   The rest stop is about five miles after the bridge.

   Get off the train at the stop after Central Station.

   UsageCommon in directions with a landmark: the first left after the light. Past means much the same.

   Similarpast, beyond

   Oppositebefore

   Note

   Distance along a route, measured the way a traveler meets it: the stop after Central Station is the next one you reach.

8. 8
   again and againpreposition

   Used between two instances of the same noun to show repetition seemingly without end.

   Wave after wave hit the sea wall.

   She answered question after question.

   UsageRepeat a bare noun, with no article or plural: day after day, question after question.

9. 9
   cleaning uppreposition

   Subsequently to someone's actions, so as to remedy them, mostly with verbs of cleaning and tidying ('picking up after you').

   Somebody has to clean up after the party guests.

   The nurse was forever clearing up after the doctor.

   UsageUsually with verbs of tidying, and the object is whoever made the mess: clean up after the guests, clean up after the dog.

10. 10
    next in rankpreposition

    Below, usually next below, in importance or rank.

    In the US Army, a colonel ranks directly after a brigadier general.

    Chess is her favorite game after tennis.

    UsageOften with right, directly or next: ranks directly after a general. Also with favorites: her favorite game after tennis.

    Similarbehind, below

11. 11
    care forpreposition

    Used to mark the object of attention or concern.

    He was hired to look after the horses.

    While we're away, our neighbor has agreed to look after the garden and water the tomatoes.

    UsageLives in fixed phrases: look after (take care of) and ask after or inquire after (ask how someone is).

12. 12
    result photonouncountable

    The picture in a comparison pair that shows the result of a treatment.

    The dentist keeps a wall of befores and afters.

    Every makeover story ends with the after.

    UsageOften plural and paired with befores: a wall of befores and afters.

    Oppositebefore

13. 13
    preposition

    Behind, in the space someone has left.

    He hurried out of the office, letting the door slam after him.

    Close the gate after the last car.

    Similarbehind

    Oppositebefore

    Note

    The oldest picture in the word: its ancestor meant 'further behind', and here that meaning is still literal. It describes what lies in someone's wake, such as a trail of destruction after him or a door shut after her. It also names the next figure in a procession, and the leader is always the object: the tall young lady comes after the maid. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The word has an ancestor meaning 'further behind', supporting the description of its spatial meaning as ancestral. en.wiktionary.org
    • The tall young lady follows the maid in the literary example being paraphrased. gutenberg.org
14. 14
    of later yearsadjectivedated

    Later, subsequent or second of two, used before a noun.

    In after life he came to regret the quarrel.

    The amends he had made in after life were lost sight of in the dramatic glare of the original act.

    1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge

    UsageFor modern writing, use later or subsequent: in later years.

    Similarlater, subsequent

    Oppositeearlier

    Note

    An adjective of nineteenth-century prose, always placed before its noun. Crockett writes of his after experience in 1834, and Hardy speaks of amends made in after life in 1886. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Crockett uses after experience in his autobiographical narrative. gutenberg.org
    • Crockett's narrative was published in 1834. openlibrary.org
    • Hardy's narrator describes amends made in after life in The Mayor of Casterbridge. gutenberg.org
    • The Mayor of Casterbridge was first published in 1886; its first-edition title page bears that year. en.wikisource.org
15. 15
    just doneprepositiondialectalIrelandNewfoundland

    With be and an -ing form, used to mark an action as just completed.

    He's after breaking the window, the eejit.

    We were after leaving when the rain started.

    UsageCompare be after + noun, which can express wanting or seeking: She's after a new job.

    Note

    A perfect tense built from a preposition, heard in Ireland and Newfoundland: a form of be, then after, then an -ing verb. 'I was after finishing my dinner' means I had just finished it, not that I was about to. Patrick Kennedy uses it in 1869, Lady Gregory in 1906 and Joseph O'Connor in 2002, sometimes with a note of reproach. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The after-perfect occurs in Ireland and Newfoundland and consists of be + after + an -ing verb. ygdp.yale.edu
    • The dinner example expresses a recently completed action. en.wiktionary.org
    • Lady Gregory used the construction in a publication dated 1906. en.wiktionary.org
    • O'Connor's cited novel was first published in 2002. en.wikipedia.org
    • O'Connor uses the after-perfect in Star of the Sea. en.wiktionary.org
    • The construction sometimes occurs in reproachful speech. gutenberg.org
16. 16
    prepositionobsolete

    According to, as stated by, or in keeping with a source, standard or measure.

    Note

    A use found only in older writing: naming an authority after the preposition credited a claim to that author, as in 'the world, after Aristotle, is eternal'. It sits close to the 'in imitation of' sense, which follows a model rather than a source. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Older English used after to mean according to an author or text. en.wiktionary.org
    • Aristotle held that the world is eternal. The sentence is an illustrative example, not an attributed verbatim quotation. classics.mit.edu
17. 17
    adjective

    Of a ship or aircraft, at or toward the stern or rear.