What does posttrial mean?
Posttrial means occurring after a legal trial or concerning matters that follow it. It is especially common in phrases such as post-trial motion, post-trial hearing, post-trial proceedings, and post-trial order. These expressions refer to legal steps that remain available or relevant after evidence has been presented and a jury or judge has reached a decision. A post-trial motion, for example, may ask the court to reconsider a ruling, alter a judgment, or grant relief without conducting another complete trial. The term belongs primarily to formal legal and courtroom language rather than everyday speech. Although it can be understood literally as “after trial,” its established use is specifically legal: it should not be treated as a general substitute for any activity occurring after an examination or experiment.
adjectiveRelating to or occurring after a legal trial. The term often refers to motions, proceedings, orders, or other actions undertaken once the trial has ended.
- Relating to or occurring after a legal trial.
"The defence filed a post-trial motion seeking a different verdict on the basis of newly discovered evidence."
"The court scheduled a post-trial hearing to consider the remaining issues."
"The parties entered into post-trial negotiations before the final order was issued."
A verdict can end a trial, but it does not always end the legal fight: post-trial motions can still challenge the result without requiring a completely new trial.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does posttrial come from?
The word combines the prefix post-, borrowed from Latin post meaning “after,” with trial, which comes through Anglo-French from Latin triare, meaning “to try” or “to examine.” The compound post-trial developed in modern English, especially in legal usage, to describe proceedings and motions following the conclusion of a trial. Its components also appear in related words such as postgraduate, postoperative, posthumous, and retrial.
How posttrial is actually used
This is chiefly formal legal terminology. It is commonly written as an attributive compound, as in “post-trial motion,” while the closed form is also used in some legal and general contexts.
Easily confused with posttrial
Pretrial refers to matters occurring before a trial begins, whereas post-trial matters arise after it has ended.
Postjudgment refers to the period or actions following a final judgment, which may include proceedings after a trial has concluded.