Learn English – “In the wake of”

figurative-languagephrase-meaning

I have a question about the usage of the phrase "in the wake of" here:

We are still in the wake of discriminatory laws against women and children.

I could not find a good dictionary definition that fits this usage of "in the wake of". But, the author of the sentence appears to be a non-native English speaker. Could the sentence, then, be poorly written?

Best Answer

This is a wake:

wake

To be literally "in the wake of --" means that a boat went by, and you are in the turbulent water and waves behind it.

To be figuratively "in the wake of --" means

In the aftermath of, as a consequence of, as in "Famine often comes in the wake of war" (source, you'll need to scroll down a bit).

This is a fairly common idiom.

So the writer is saying we are still in the midst of the negative consequences of discriminatory laws.

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