Skip to content

retroactivo

retroactive

adjective rreh-troh-ahk-TEE-boh Rare

Origin: From Latin retro (backwards) + activus (active).

Also means

backdated

Usage Note

Retroactivo describes a law, payment, or measure that applies to events before it was enacted. The phrase con carácter retroactivo ('with retroactive effect') is standard in legal and administrative Spanish. The corresponding adverb is retroactivamente and the noun is retroactividad.

Examples

"El aumento salarial será retroactivo a enero."

Natural Translation

The pay rise will be retroactive to January.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic