vestige

American  

[ves-tij] / ˈvɛs tɪdʒ /

noun

vestiges plural

1. a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence.

   A few columns were the last vestiges of a Greek temple.

   Synonyms:

   token

2. a surviving evidence or remainder of some condition, practice, etc..

   These superstitions are vestiges of an ancient religion.

3. a very slight trace or amount of something.

   Not a vestige remains of the former elegance of the house.

   Synonyms:

   suggestion, hint

4. Biology. a degenerate or imperfectly developed organ or structure that has little or no utility, but that in an earlier stage of the individual or in preceding evolutionary forms of the organism performed a useful function.

5. Archaic. a footprint; track.

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vestige British  

/ ˈvɛstɪdʒ /

noun

1. a small trace, mark, or amount; hint

   a vestige of truth

   no vestige of the meal

2. biology an organ or part of an organism that is a small nonfunctioning remnant of a functional organ in an ancestor

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Synonym Usage

See trace ¹.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• vestiges
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vestige

First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin vestīgium “footprint”

Explanation

A vestige is a trace or reminder of something that has disappeared or is disappearing. A lump of snow with a carrot in it might be the vestige of a snowman. Vestige derives from the Latin vestigium, "footprint," and that is a good way to think of it — as a little hint of what was there before. It's something left behind, like a puddle after a heavy rainstorm. Sometimes vestige is used to emphasize a small amount; for example, you might say that the robber didn't show even a vestige of remorse after he was caught.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vestige vestiges

The company’s New Jersey connection is a vestige of its past, when Exxon was part of the conglomerate Standard Oil back in the 19th century.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

They were tough sanctions, removing any vestige of royal status.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026

The middle layers of management—so central to today’s corporate structure—could be a vestige of the past.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025

Everywhere Jay and his entourage go, a piece of cheesecake follows, the last, haunting vestige of a star’s rider that should’ve been updated long ago.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2025

Soccer team rosters, citations at the end of journals, introductions at faculty meetings—always they seem to her some vestige of the prison lists that never contained her father’s name.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Broken computer monitors in bombed-out offices, scattered fake police uniforms and phoney hundred-dollar bills: these were the vestiges of a frantic escape of suspected cyberscammers fleeing a resort on the Cambodia-Thailand border.

From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026

But most critically, venture capital has eaten away at the remaining vestiges of old-school journalism.

From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2026

“It effectively killed the last vestiges of ’80s glam rock, all that hair, metal and theatrics,” says Fink.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026

Particularly as this dramatic move, removing the remaining vestiges of his royal life, comes with an assertion of his innocence and that he continued to "vigorously deny the accusations against me".

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2025

Yet today’s cruise ships continue to trade on the vestiges of their upper-class mystique, even while offering new amenities like onboard ice skating and wall climbing.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

• glimmer
• relic
• remnant
• residue