Word
posthumous
Phoneticspost·hu·mous
US/ˈpɑstʃʊməs/
UK/pˈəʊsthjuːməs/
Definition
adj. happening or published after someone has died. You use this to describe things like books, awards, or babies that come into the world after the person is gone.
adj. occurring or published after the death of the person in question. Often used to describe creative works, awards, or offspring released or recognized after the individual's passing.
Examples
“The author received a posthumous award for his life's work.”
“The baby was born posthumously, just hours after her mother passed away in the hospital.”
“The novel was published posthumously, revealing a series of personal letters that had been hidden for decades and providing new insight into the author's final years.”
Examples
simple
“The author received a posthumous award for his life's work.”
contextual
“The baby was born posthumously, just hours after her mother passed away in the hospital.”
complex
“The novel was published posthumously, revealing a series of personal letters that had been hidden for decades and providing new insight into the author's final years.”
Real-World Examples
“A flood of posthumous songs, music videos and albums were released after the murder, eulogizing his legacy as one of the most prolific and talented artists of his generation.” “Instead of an artist in a booth, a lone amplifier plays the music of singer-songwriter Beldina Odenyo for a cluster of microphones to pick up during the posthumous recording of her debut album.” “A few weeks later, Rindt became F1's only posthumous world champion.” Etymology
From Latin posthumus, a variant spelling of postumus, superlative form of posterus (“coming after”), the ⟨h⟩ added by association with humus (“ground, earth”) referring to burial.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
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englishreference.com/q/posthumous