good riddance
Syllables: good rid·danceUK/ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪd(ə)n(t)s//ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪdn̩(t)s/
good riddance interjection: used to indicate that a departure or loss is welcome.
Interjection
Noun
good riddance (plural good riddances)
- A welcome departure or loss.
- The fortification whereof he last advertised has required more time than he expected, "or in good riddance needed."1597 August 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh, “The Lord Deputy Burgh to Sir Robert Cecil”, in Ernest George Atkinson, editor, Calendar of the State Papers...
- Ther[sites]. I vvill ſee you hang'd like Clatpoles, ere I come any more to your tents, I vvill keepe vvhere there is vvit ſtirring, and leaue the faction of fooles. Exit. / Patro[clus]. A good riddance.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
- Synonyms:
- fair riddance, gentle riddance, good riddings
good riddance meaning in Arabic, Persian, Thai and Vietnamese
good riddance in Arabic
- ''departure or loss is welcome''
- رَحِيل غَيْر مَأْسُوف عَلَيْهِ raḥīl ḡayr maʔsūf ʕalayhi, رَحِيل غَيْر مَأْسُوف عَلَيْهَا raḥīl ḡayr maʔsūf ʕalayhā
good riddance in Persian
- ''departure or loss is welcome''
- به سلامت be salâmat
good riddance in Thai
- ''departure or loss is welcome''
- ไป ๆ ซะได้ก็ดี, ดีมาก dii maak
good riddance in Vietnamese
- ''departure or loss is welcome''
- đỡ nợ, rảnh nợ, vĩnh biệt
Examples of good riddance in a sentence
- Mrs Inconſiderate, alſo replyed, ſaying, avvay vvith ſuch Fantaſtical Fools from the Tovvn, a good riddance, for my par[t], I ſay, of her.1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder...
- After 50 years of farming, [Maurice] Fisch too has left the ostrich business, and says good riddance. […] Ostriches, says Fisch, are "stupid birds that just had nice feathers."2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may Look Goofy, but Ostriches are Nobody’s Fool”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National...
- There's no Body ſo Happy in his Family and Friends, but that ſome of them vvhen they ſee him going, vvill vviſh for a good Riddance, and almoſt keep a Holy Day for his Death: […]1701, Marcus Antoninus [i.e., Marcus Aurelius], “Book X”, in Jeremy Collier, transl., The Emperor Marcus Antoninus His Conversation with...
- [T]o tell you my mind, Lucretia, I think it's a good riddance.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Mr. Dombey and the World”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
Synonyms of good riddance
- good riddings
- fair riddance
- gentle riddance
Forms of good riddance
| Interjection | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | good riddings |
| Noun | |
| plural | good riddances |
Origin of good riddance
From good + riddance (“act of ridding or removal; relief involving getting rid of something”), possibly influenced by the earlier obsolete terms fair riddance and gentle riddance.
Words formed from good riddance
Questions about good riddance
- What does good riddance mean?
- Good riddance means used to indicate that a departure or loss is welcome.
- What is good riddance in Arabic?
- Good riddance in Arabic is رَحِيل غَيْر مَأْسُوف عَلَيْهِ (raḥīl ḡayr maʔsūf ʕalayhi), رَحِيل غَيْر مَأْسُوف عَلَيْهَا (raḥīl ḡayr maʔsūf ʕalayhā). See Good riddance meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use good riddance in a sentence?
- Mrs Inconſiderate, alſo replyed, ſaying, avvay vvith ſuch Fantaſtical Fools from the Tovvn, a good riddance, for my par[t], I ſay, of her.
- What part of speech is good riddance?
- Good riddance can be an interjection or a noun.
- How do you pronounce good riddance?
- Good riddance is pronounced /ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪd(ə)n(t)s/ (UK).
Words near good riddance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: good riddance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-good riddance.wav, En-au-good riddance.ogg.
Cite this entry: “good riddance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/good_riddance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.