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Valedictory addresses delivered by earnest young valedictorians at high school and college graduations are as much a sign of spring in the United States as baseball games and cookouts. Though we don’t know where the first valedictory address was given, we do know that the word was an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the mid-1700s. English speakers and writers have also used valedictory in non-academic settings since the mid-1600s. Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedicere, which means "to say farewell."
Examples of valedictory in a Sentence
A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 6 Jan. 2025
Though Sutherland would appear in a few more films before his death last week (including Ad Astra, which has a valedictory quality, too), The Burnt Orange Heresy provides that unlikely sense of closure.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 25 June 2024
Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 25 Feb. 2025
George Washington’s farewell address, a long valedictory letter written largely by Alexander Hamilton, and published in Claypoole’s Daily Advertiser, in September, 1796, was an eloquent rationale for his departure from public life and for the need for peaceful transitions of power.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for valedictory
Cite this Entry
“Valedictory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/valedictory. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
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