ex post facto
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.55 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
adv
By retroactive application of a law formulated or enacted after the deed in question.
Example Sentences
- "One of them added that it was hard lines that there wasn’t any gentleman “such-like as yourself, squire,” to show some sort of appreciation of their efforts in a liquid form; […] The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been here limited; a noble use of them had, however, been made, and again I was compelled to deal with the result in an ex post facto manner."
- "Coupled with the Constitution's proscription of ex post facto laws is a similar prohibition against bills of attainder."
- "That the tax would take effect after some of the payments were made also raises issues. Says former Attorney General Richard Thornburg, also in an e-mail: "Such legislation could well run afoul of constitutional restrictions on bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, laws impairing the obligations of contract, unauthorized takings of property and the like.""
- "What he did was not a crime when he did it, but he was convicted ex post facto."
Etymology
From Latin ex (“from”) + post (“after”) + factō, ablative of factum (“deed”). In Latin, ex takes the ablative case, while post takes the accusative case. (See Wikipedia for a discussion of the grammatical form and usage of this phrase.)
Inflected Forms
expost facto (alternative)
expostfacto (alternative)