Word of the Day
: June 6, 2026valedictory
playWhat It Means
Valedictory describes something expressing or containing a farewell.
// The valedictory speech given by the department chair moved several faculty members to tears.
valedictory in Context
“Did I regret not catching a retrospective showing of ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ in a special valedictory program of Sundance sensations from over the years? Perhaps—though not as much as I regretted missing the screening of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s ‘Half Nelson’ (2006). That’s the title that I remember most fondly from my first year at Sundance ...” — Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2026
Did You Know?
Valedictory addresses delivered by valedictorians at high school and college graduations are as much a sign of spring in the United States as baseball games and cookouts. Though we don’t know where the first valedictory address was given, we do know that such addresses were an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the time Noah Webster wrote his famous 1828 dictionary. (We also know that valedictory was used in non-academic settings—mostly churches, and especially in the phrase “valedictory sermon”—from the mid-1600s.) Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedīcere, which means “to say goodbye.”
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Vocabulary
What is the name for a student having the second highest rank in a graduating class who delivers an address at commencement?
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