Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, 'after' is used in phrasal verbs such as 'ask after', 'look after', and 'take after'.
1.
If something happens after a particular date or event, it happens during the period of time that follows that date or event.
After 19 May, strikes were occurring on a daily basis...
After breakfast Amy ordered a taxi...
It wasn't until after Christmas that I met Paul.
? before
PREP
•
After is also a conjunction.
After Don told me this, he spoke of his mother...
Marina cared for him after he seriously injured his eye several years ago.
CONJ
2.
If you do one thing after doing another, you do it during the period of time that follows the other thing.
After completing and signing it, please return the form to us in the envelope provided.
...women who have changed their mind after deciding not to have children...
? before
PREP: PREP -ing
3.
You use after when you are talking about time. For example, if something is going to happen during the day after or the weekend after a particular time, it is going to happen during the following day or during the following weekend.
She's leaving the day after tomorrow.
PREP: n PREP n
•
After is also an adverb.
Tomorrow. Or the day after.
ADV: ADV after v
4.
If you go after someone, you follow or chase them.
He walked out, and Louise went after him.
...people who were after him for large amounts of money.
PREP
5.
If you are after something, you are trying to get it.
They were after the money...
I did eventually find what I was after.
PREP
6.
If you call, shout, or stare after someone, you call, shout, or stare at them as they move away from you.
'Come back!' he called after me...
PREP
7.
If you tell someone that one place is a particular distance after another, you mean that it is situated beyond the other place and further away from you.
A few kilometres after the village, turn right to Montelabate.
= past
? before
PREP
8.
If one thing is written after another thing on a page, it is written following it or underneath it.
I wrote my name after Penny's.
= following
PREP
9.
You use after in order to give the most important aspect of something when comparing it with another aspect.
After Germany, America is Britain's second-biggest customer...
PREP
10.
To be named
after someone means to be given the same name as them. (
BRIT; in AM, use for
)
He persuaded Virginia to name the baby after him.
PREP
11.
If you say 'after you' to someone, you are being polite and allowing them to go in front of you or through a doorway before you do.
CONVENTION [politeness]
12.
After is used when telling the time. If it is, for example, ten after six, the time is ten minutes past six. (AM)
? before
PREP
13.
14.
If you do something to several things one after the other or one after another, you do it to one, then the next, and so on, with no break between your actions.
Sybil ate three biscuits, one after the other...
PHRASE
15.
If something happens day after day or year after year, it happens every day or every year, for a long time.
...people who'd been coming here year after year.
PHRASE