Word.ws English Dictionary

throw-back

throw-back is the alternative form of throwback.

Meaning of throwback

Noun

throwback (countable and uncountable, plural throwbacks)

  1. A reversion to an earlier stage of development.
    • You see, the House of Representatives recently passed a military budget that is wholly inadequate, a throwback to the seventies, a budget that is a breach of faith with our Armed Forces and our allies and would send exactly the wrong signal to the Soviets and their satellites.1986, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address - 17 May 1986
  2. (derogatory) A person considered to be primitive, uncivilized and mentally deficient.
  3. An organism that has characteristics of a more primitive form.
  4. An atavism.
  5. A person similar to an ancestor, or something new similar to what already existed.
    • "But this is marvellous. It might be his portrait."
      "Yes, it is an interesting instance of a throw-back, which appears to be both physical and spiritual. A study of family portraits is enough to convert a man to the doctrine of reincarnation. The fellow is a Baskerville—that is evident."1901 August – 1902 April, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Fixing the Nets”, in The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, London: George Newnes, […], published 1902, →OCLC, pages...
  6. (attributive, often, slang) A person or thing that evokes memories.
    • Céline Dion belted her iconic song "My Heart Will Go On" in a show-stopping performance at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards on May 21. The legendary singer gave the throwback performance in honor of the 20th anniversary of the hit song from the Titanic soundtrack.2017 May 22, Mallory Carra, “Celine Dion Is Making Everyone Cry”, in Bustle, BDG Media, retrieved 11 Oct 2021

See all 7 meanings of throwback

Forms of throw-back

pluralthrow-backs

Origin of throw-back

Deverbal from throw back.

Questions about throw-back

What is throw-back the alternative form of?
Throw-back is the alternative form of throwback.

Words near throw-back in the dictionary

  1. throw up the sponge
  2. throw up to
  3. throw wobblies
  4. throw-away
  5. throw-aways
  6. throw-back
  7. throw-backs
  8. throw-board
  9. throw-boards
  10. throw-crook
  11. throw-crooks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw-back (page history and authors); throwback (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.

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Cite this entry: “throw-back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throw-back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.