twenty-twenty hindsight
Perfect backward vision
Twenty-twenty hindsight is the ability to see clearly what should have been done only after the fact.
The phrase plays on 20/20 vision—perfect eyesight—to suggest that past events are easy to judge once outcomes are known: Twenty-twenty hindsight tells me I should have sold those stocks in January.
Often invoked to deflect criticism or acknowledge that earlier decisions looked reasonable at the time.
- 20/20Normal visual sharpness
- second-guessQuestion a decision afterward
- after the factFollowing an event's occurrence
- afterFollowing in time
- in retrospectConsidering past events now
retrospect · looking back · back · afterthought · second thought · wisdom · consequence · realization · shoulda · woulda · reconsideration · mistake · error · missed opportunity · reflection · regret · what if · experience
twenty-twenty hindsightforesight
Ability to anticipate futures
prescience · foreknowledge · anticipation · prediction · prognostication
twenty-twenty hindsightflying blind
Acting without guidance
uncertainty · speculation · conjecture · gambling · leap of faith
twenty-twenty hindsightshortsightedness
Inability to see distance
myopia · poor judgment · flying blind · naivety · tunnel vision
twenty, hindsight, sighted, sighting, sightless, sightly, unsightly, foresight, oversight