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Proactive vs Retrospective - What's the difference?

proactive | retrospective |

As adjectives the difference between proactive and retrospective

is that proactive is acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty while retrospective is of, relating to, or contemplating the past.

As a noun retrospective is

an exhibition of works from an extended period of an artist's activity.

proactive

English

(wikipedia proactive)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty
    • We can deal with each problem as it pops up, or we can take a proactive stance and try to prevent future problems.

    Usage notes

    Some consider proactive to be a buzzword, and it is associated with business-speak.The good grammar guide, by Richard Palmer, 2003, p. 157 Depending on use, alternatives include active, or “show initiative” instead of “be proactive ”.

    Synonyms

    * anticipatory * forward-looking

    Antonyms

    * reactive

    Derived terms

    * proactively * proactivity * proactiveness

    Related terms

    * proact * proactor

    References

    * The Word Detective, Issue of February 5, 2001 ----

    retrospective

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • of, relating to, or contemplating the past
  • looking backwards
  • affecting or influencing past things; retroactive

    • Noun

    (wikipedia retrospective) (en noun)
  • an exhibition of works from an extended period of an artist's activity

    • See also

    * (l) – scholarly analog * (l) * (l)