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What is the most suitable way to express that a sentence/word will be "replaced by" another sentence/word, from that point (in a text, for instance)?

  • Henceforth called/named...
  • Hereinafter called/named...
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2  
Can you give an actual full sentence for context? – Mitch Apr 19 '12 at 21:17
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I wouldn't use either, unless you're a lawyer being paid lots of money to do so. – Barrie England Apr 20 '12 at 6:07

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

They are both suitable, but the difference between them is that hereinafter (sometimes written as two words, herein after) usually pertains just to writing within a document, While henceforth is more general, and just means from now on. For what it's worth, I've only ever seen hereinafter in legal documents (my rent contract, most recently).

So, for example, you could say:

Henceforth, we shall not go to 7-11 for hot dogs.

but you could not say:

*Hereinafter, we shall not go to 7-11 for hot dogs.

Within the context of a document, either might be used, but hereinafter specifically limits itself to the document or corpus in which it appears. Therefore, it is often the preferable choice for coining a replacement term or phrase:

Hereinafter[?Henceforth], the hot dogs shall be referred to as exhibit B.

That does not mean that you cannot write henceforth in a document, however. For example, you could write:

In this thesis, I will support the idea that henceforth, all hot dogs should be called hot pigs.

Hereinafter would not be appropriate, since it places too much of a limit on the scope of the author's claim.

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4  
I think that even within a document there is a shade of difference. Hereinafter explicitly claims that it pertains to writing within the document at hand; while henceforth could also mean that it pertains to any future uses, for example other documents. – Mark Beadles Apr 19 '12 at 20:43
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@MarkBeadles good point, I added an example to hopefully make that distinction more clear. – Cameron Apr 19 '12 at 20:50
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When I was writing technical documentation I'd quite often coin "Some Special Phrase" - if I didn't expect that phrase to be much used outside the the particular document, I'd be quite likely to immediately follow it with "(hereinafter SSP)". That to my mind suggests to any reader that he needn't bother remembering the abbreviation after he's finished perusing the documentation. If I didn't write the actual word "hereinafter", that might well be because I already did (or expected to in future) use the abbreviation SSP in other contexts. – FumbleFingers Apr 19 '12 at 21:28
I disagree - they are not interchangeable. "Henceforth" means that from this time onward, this will be the case. "Hereinafter" means that for the purposes of this local context, I will be using an abbreviated term (usually, although not necessarily). So if something does not have an impact outside the current context, henceforth would be wrong. – Schroedingers Cat Jun 6 '12 at 10:20
@SchroedingersCat Thanks for the correction, I'll edit the example to reflect that "henceforth" is a questionable choice. The phrase "henceforth called" does appear in a small handful of results in google books (about 11,000), some of which signal a replacement term specific to the text. In those instances, I take it to mean "from now on," with the extent limited implicitly by the context, rather than "from now on in all cases and in perpetuity." So, I hesitate to call it wrong, but certainly "hereinafter" is a better choice, as you said. – Cameron Jun 6 '12 at 16:27
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up vote 2 down vote

Hereafter ("In time to come" and "From now on") works better, I think, than either of henceforth or hereinafter. For example:

When you (hereafter, the buyer) purchase this product, ...

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up vote 2 down vote

Both words sound too 'legal'. If all you want to do is replace one word with another, you can just add it after the first use in parentheses, similar to what you would do with an abbreviation.

The United States (US) is a country.

The book I'm writing (my book) is about a dog.

Then, after that, you can refer to the US and my book, and the reader will know what you mean.

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up vote 2 down vote
  • "hereinafter": refers to a position in a document (from this point on; in a subsequent part of this document)
  • "henceforth": refers to a moment in time (from now on; in the future)

So, to answer your question, "hereinafter" (or "herein after") is most likely what you'd be using for your purposes. Both are used only in legal documents, otherwise considered archaic.

It would be "ACME Corporation, hereinafter referred to as The Supplier" but "henceforth she shall be known as Mrs Miller".

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