valediction

noun

val·​e·​dic·​tion ˌva-lə-ˈdik-shən How to pronounce valediction (audio)
1
: an act of bidding farewell
2

Examples of valediction in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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This record and tour are by no means a last valediction to her music career. August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2024 Laboe was known to leave a playful valediction — a smooch — at the end of his show. Sarah Quiñones Wolfson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb. 2024 Dorfman’s new book, his thirty-eighth, feels like a valediction to a career that, until now, has been varied in its instruments but consistent in its vision. Jonathan Dee, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023 Will the delicate touch that has scored so effectively with viewers and Emmy voters be abandoned for mawkish valedictions? John Anderson, WSJ, 14 Mar. 2023 The takeaway is this: In effect, despite this year’s somewhat patchwork Pegasus field, there are some fast horses in it, and the Pegasus — Cyberknife’s valediction — is ironically the only race that can answer the question that the Derby posed for him 9 months ago. Guy Martin, Forbes, 28 Jan. 2023 In addition to keeping him on as head of NIAID, President Biden made Fauci his chief medical advisor, a valediction to more than a half-century of public service. Melissa Healystaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2022 This is a sensitive but dreary novel of valediction that pursues atonement without any apparent belief that such a thing is possible. Sam Sacks, WSJ, 5 Mar. 2021 The 12-song disc ends up being both something of a retrospective and perhaps a valediction. Star Tribune, 22 Oct. 2020

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin valedictiōn-, valedictiō, from Latin valedic-, alternate stem of vale dīcere, valedīcere "to say goodbye," (from vale, interjection, "goodbye, farewell," reduced form of valē, imperative of valēre "to have strength, be well" + dīcere "to speak, say") + -tiōn-, -tiō, noun suffix of action — more at wield, diction

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of valediction was in 1613

Dictionary Entries Near valediction

Cite this Entry

“Valediction.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/valediction. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.

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