vestige
Americannoun
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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
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a surviving evidence or remainder of some condition, practice, etc..
These superstitions are vestiges of an ancient religion.
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a very slight trace or amount of something.
Not a vestige remains of the former elegance of the house.
- Synonyms:
- suggestion, hint
-
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.
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Archaic. a footprint; track.
noun
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a small trace, mark, or amount; hint
a vestige of truth
no vestige of the meal
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biology an organ or part of an organism that is a small nonfunctioning remnant of a functional organ in an ancestor
Related Words
See trace 1.
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.
Vocabulary lists containing vestige
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The Great Gatsby
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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.
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
Today, some defunct European dynasties maintain their chivalric orders as a lingering vestige of the power they once held.
From Slate • Nov. 4, 2024
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
Definitions 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.
