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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. interj. Used to express goodbye.
  2. n. An acknowledgment at parting; a goodbye.
  3. n. The act of departing or taking leave.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. ‘Fare well’; may you be or continue in a happy or prosperous condition; in common use, good-by. It expresses a kind wish, a wish of happiness, and while it does not, in its origin, necessarily refer to departure, it is now used, like good-by, its more colloquial equivalent, exclusively in leave-taking. It is sometimes used in reference to inanimate objects, in slight personification. It emphasizes the fact of separation or relinquishment.
  2. [It is still often written separately, with a pronoun between, the pronoun being either the subject nominative, as in “fare you well” or “fare ye well,” or a dative of reference, as in “fare thee well.”
  3. Synonyms Good-by, etc. See adieu, interj.
  4. n. A good-by; a leave-taking; an adieu.
  5. n. Farewell followed by to governing the object is a noun, used elliptically for “I bid farewell (to …).”
  6. n. Leave; departure; final look, thought, or attention.
  7. Parting; valedictory: as, a farewell sermon; farewell appearance of an actor.
  8. To bid farewell to; take leave of.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A wish of happiness or welfare at parting, especially a permanent departure; the parting compliment; a goodbye; adieu.
  2. n. An act of departure; leave-taking; a last look at, or reference to something.
  3. adj. parting; valedictory; final;
  4. interj. goodbye
  5. v. To bid farewell or say goodbye

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. interj. Go well; good-by; adieu; -- originally applied to a person departing, but by custom now applied both to those who depart and those who remain. It is often separated by the pronoun; ; and is sometimes used as an expression of separation only
  2. n. A wish of happiness or welfare at parting; the parting compliment; a good-by; adieu.
  3. n. Act of departure; leave-taking; a last look at, or reference to something.
  4. adj. Parting; valedictory; final.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the act of departing politely
  2. n. an acknowledgment or expression of goodwill at parting

Etymologies

  1. Middle English fare wel : imperative of faren, to fare; see fare + wel, well; see well2.

Examples

  • “President Jimmy Carter did it in his farewell address a speech he concluded with the word farewell, which is the proper way to end a farewell address.”

    Simon & Schuster: No Uncertain Terms

  • “Mladic attorney Milos Saljic visited him in his jail cell in the early afternoon and said the former general was crying and very emotional during what he called a farewell visit by his wife and sister.”

    USA Today: Mladic spending night in isolation at UN prison

  • “Their relationship culminates with a very revealing poem that aptly begins with the word farewell.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Blackstone Key

  • “It was on the 28th of September, 1880, that several of my friends and relatives had gathered in the parlor to have what they called a farewell chat with me while I was yet their girl companion.”

    My own life, or, A deserted wife,

  • “He has been publicly girding for his incarceration with a series of goodbyes, including what he called a farewell tour in recent months and a recent Rolling Stone cover story in which he said he considered jail "an experience that I need to have if God's putting me through it.”

    WRAL.com Top Stories

  • “Then they waved their hands in farewell and went away slowly across the campus toward the burning city.”

    Page 4

  • “There was nothing to be done, so they went down and said good-bye to the little old man, who waved farewell from the promenade deck as the big steamer poked her nose seaward through the coral reef.”

    Chun Ah Chun

  • “Gregory Clark makes the case in farewell to alms, that Malthus was right, and all preindustrial states lived under malthusian trap.”

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » The Narrow-Mindedness of Zero-Sum Thinking

  • “Domar, his eyes fastened on the peaks, said nothing either, did not so much as nod in farewell or thanks, so focused had his thoughts become.”

    Caribou House « A Fly in Amber

  • “Bub waved his hand in farewell, and his mates clustered along the rail as they answered with a cheering shout.”

    The Lost Poacher

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘farewell’.

Comments

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  • PossibleUnderscore The saddest goodbye song is one of the most simple (of course, that's just my opinion).
    Dec 9, 2009

  • baihu goodbye for ever! Sep 28, 2007

‘farewell’ has been looked up 2112 times, loved by 2 people, added to 14 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.