English Reference

Idiom

hindsight is 20/20

Meaning

In hindsight things are obvious that were not obvious from the outset; one is able to evaluate past choices more clearly than at the time of the choice.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“I made a mistake, but hindsight is 20/20.”

“I should have invested in that company earlier, but hindsight is 20/20.”

“While we regret the decision now, we must remember that hindsight is 20/20 and we lacked the necessary information at the time.”

Examples

simple

“I made a mistake, but hindsight is 20/20.”

contextual

“I should have invested in that company earlier, but hindsight is 20/20.”

complex

“While we regret the decision now, we must remember that hindsight is 20/20 and we lacked the necessary information at the time.”

Origin

From the term 20/20 referring to normal visual acuity.

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference