Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An act of bidding farewell; a leave-taking.
  • noun A speech or statement made as a farewell.
  • noun A word or phrase of farewell used to end a letter or message.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A farewell; a bidding farewell.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A farewell; a bidding farewell.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A speech made when leaving or parting company.
  • noun The act of parting company.
  • noun A word or phrase (such as adieu or farewell) said upon leaving.
  • noun A word or phrase used to end a letter or message.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a farewell oration (especially one delivered during graduation exercises by an outstanding member of a graduating class)
  • noun the act of saying farewell

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin valedictus, past participle of valedīcere, to say farewell : valē, farewell; see vale + dīcere, to say; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1614. From Latin valedīcere, present active infinitive of valedīcō ("bid farewell"), from valē, imperative of valeō ("I am well"), + dīcō ("say").

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Examples

  • Roth gives the best lines in valediction to a pro-war speechmaker, the unpolished Republican pol Albin Lentz, who is the president of Winesburg College.

    Nasty, Brutish, and Short 2008

  • Roth gives the best lines in valediction to a pro-war speechmaker, the unpolished Republican pol Albin Lentz, who is the president of Winesburg College.

    Nasty, Brutish, and Short 2008

  • "You obviously don't know what you're talking about, brother", he added in valediction, which is somewhat ironic, as Mr Hjelms was trying to explain how he knew what he was talking about.

    The Economist: Daily news and views 2011

  • The gist of the story is that using big words like "valediction" (or "Ahmadinejad") can sometimes con an audience into thinking things make sense when in fact they don't.

    Michael Showalter: Ahmadinejad Is a Long Word 2009

  • The studio thought it would be a wonderful thing if the animators who had worked on the original came back for a kind of valediction, and worked on the new one.

    Archive 2006-04-01 Steve Hulett 2006

  • Fry said in a "valediction" on his website www. stephenfry.com that he intends to disconnect himself from his multimedia chatter on Twitter, blogs and websites to write a follow-up to his autobiography "Moab Is My Washpot."

    Reuters: Top News 2010

  • The valediction of Abel Kirschke is one of the two or three funniest stories I have.

    Sullen Months, Möbius Strips Josef K. Strosche 2011

  • I may, however, not be the most reliable commentator on her valediction, having previously been largely unaware of Georgie's apparently impressive body of work.

    Georgie Thompson says goodbye on Sky Sports … well, sort of | Martin Kelner 2012

  • It also timeously destroys Mr. Speaker Martin's self-serving and pompous valediction in which he sought to claim that if MPs had adopted proposals made last year, all would have been well, the implication being that he had been at the forefront of such changes and had been thwarted by the House.

    Expenses: The Commons Exocets Itself 2009

  • I tried my best to talk Sarah into coming to N. to ride out the valediction of Abel Kirschke with me, but she'd met him once before already, and not only had he rubbed her the wrong way, but she was furthermore morally opposed to the way he lived his life.

    Sullen Months, Möbius Strips Josef K. Strosche 2011

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