A special case of a strawman argument in which, after being criticized for being hypocritical, one intentionally mischaracterizes the criticism as being an additional layer of hypocrisy.
Person A) "It's pure hypocrisy that after being so concerned with Hillary's private emails, Republicans are shrugging after we find out Ivanka Trump has been sending official White House business emails from a private account."
Person B: "Oh, what? So you were perfectly fine with Hillary doing it, but you care all of a sudden when Ivanka does it? It's YOU who's a hypocrite."
Person A: "Don't pull that retroactive hypocrisy on me. I didn't say anything about my own approval or disapproval of either Hillary or Ivanka."
Person B: "Oh, what? So you were perfectly fine with Hillary doing it, but you care all of a sudden when Ivanka does it? It's YOU who's a hypocrite."
Person A: "Don't pull that retroactive hypocrisy on me. I didn't say anything about my own approval or disapproval of either Hillary or Ivanka."
by bwseventytwo November 20, 2018
When you call someone out who's wronged you and they try to use your response, anger, or retaliation to justify what they did.
Person A: "I only lied because I knew you'd react like this!"
Person B: "That's some retroactive justification bullshit! That's not how time works. The cause happens BEFORE the result, dumbass!"
Person B: "That's some retroactive justification bullshit! That's not how time works. The cause happens BEFORE the result, dumbass!"
by Gaius315 March 16, 2022
The act of making your next product so bad that it actually encourages people to buy your previous product
Windows 8 is an example of retroactive promotion. It was so bad, it made people go out and buy Windows 7.
by fluffypenis June 26, 2018
Don't kill them when they are young & cute, take them out when they are teenagers & they deserve it.
As a baby, Molly seemed cute & innocent. Now as a teenager the little shit is a poster child for retroactive abortion.
by WelfareMothersMakeBetterLovers August 2, 2021
The act of masturbating to a girl (or guy) from your past who at one point was extremely attractive but is no longer due to aging or weight gain. The masturbator would then jerk off to a mental image of how the once attractive girl looked in the past (retroactively) rather than how she looks currently. This occurs quite often when thinking about aging female celebrities who at point were major sex symbols.
Similar to "nostalgia wank".
Similar to "nostalgia wank".
Rick: Yo man, did you see Chloë at our ten year high school reunion?
Matt: Yea, brah. She got fat. Fuckin' shame, she used to be sooooo hot.
Rick: I know right? I'm gonna find an old yearbook and beat off to the way she used to look in high school.
Matt: Good ol' retroactive masturbation! Ya know, for a quicker yank, you could just scroll backwards through her Facebook profile photos.
Matt: Yea, brah. She got fat. Fuckin' shame, she used to be sooooo hot.
Rick: I know right? I'm gonna find an old yearbook and beat off to the way she used to look in high school.
Matt: Good ol' retroactive masturbation! Ya know, for a quicker yank, you could just scroll backwards through her Facebook profile photos.
by jodielover81 October 4, 2018
The tendency of girls to take pictures with everyone at a party (regardless of whether or not they like the people in the photos), so that if something awkward or embarrassing happens with someone during the course of that party, there is usually a photo of them before that incident happened.
"Look at that picture of Michael, Ella, and Isabel"
"Weren't Ella and Isabel in a catfight that night?"
"Yeah but this was at the beginning of the night, it's clearly a retroactively-awkward photo op."
"Weren't Ella and Isabel in a catfight that night?"
"Yeah but this was at the beginning of the night, it's clearly a retroactively-awkward photo op."
by ShawnCP November 4, 2009
Can be used as a verb or an adverb.
Giving somebody respect, or to respect for something that happened in the past and told in a story.
Giving somebody respect, or to respect for something that happened in the past and told in a story.
Pops: When i was your age i was in a VietCong POW camp for 2 years.
Kid: Hey i give you retroactive respect for that.
Kid: Hey i give you retroactive respect for that.
by who was that again? May 22, 2011