goodbye
Americaninterjection
noun
-
goodbyes
plural
noun
-
a leave-taking; parting
they prolonged their goodbyes for a few more minutes
-
a farewell
they said goodbyes to each other
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of goodbye
First recorded in 1565–75; contraction of God be with ye
Explanation
Goodbye is a parting word, something you say to other people when you're leaving. You might say goodbye to all your favorite teachers on your last day of high school. A goodbye means that someone's departing: you say goodbye to your parents when you go off to college, and you also say goodbye to guests when they leave after a visit. The original goodbye, dating from the 1570s, was godbwye, which was a contraction of the farewell phrase "God be with ye!"
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Leaving the United States doesn’t mean waving goodbye to the U.S. tax system.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
After a rollercoaster year, fans gathered in Big Bear to say goodbye to the beloved eagle who brought them together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
How does a parent say goodbye to a dying child?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
We must look like the type of couple that would inspire envy, not one in the process of saying goodbye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
He hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Osorio recalls watching footage from a drone overhead as Tofino appeared to say his own goodbyes.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Relatives crouched on the floor to say their final goodbyes to loved ones, kissing the faces of the dead between sobs.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
They are also all, he said, about a series of goodbyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
By the end of the second season, Slot was sat alone in the dugout watching Salah and Robertson say their own goodbyes.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
We didn’t really talk properly again at the Cottages, and before I knew it, I was saying my goodbyes.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
