Word.ws English Dictionary

valedictory

Syllables: va·le·dict·o·ry/ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/US/ˌvæləˈdɪktəɹi/

valedictory adjective: of or pertaining to a valediction (“an act of parting company; a speech made when parting company”); designed for or suitable to an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.

Adjective

valedictory (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to a valediction (“an act of parting company; a speech made when parting company”); designed for or suitable to an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.
    • a valedictory oration
    • Supp'd at Mr. Edwᵈ Sheldon's, where was Mr. [John] Dryden the Poet, who now intended to write no more Plays, being intent on his Translation of Virgil. He read to us his Prologue and Epilogue to his valedictory Play, now shortly to be acted.1694 January 20 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 11 January 1694]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
    Synonyms:
    apopemptic
  2. (Canada, US) Of or pertaining to a valedictorian (“the individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades”).
    • The first was Larissa Martinez, who divulged her undocumented status during her valedictory speech and told the crowd at her McKinney, Texas, high school graduation she would be attending Yale University with a financial aid package in the fall.2016 June 17, Octavio Blanco, “Undocumented students and the controversial path to affording college”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 07 Jun 2025

Noun

valedictory (plural valedictories)

  1. An address given on an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.
    • [Jean-Claude] Juncker gave an emotional valedictory. When he stopped speaking, an Italian journalist stood up. "History will judge you, Mr Juncker," the journalist said solemnly, "but we will never forget you" before urging a round of applause for the Luxembourger's "30 years as a true European".2020 March 13, Katherine Butler, “How will we report on the EU now that the UK is out?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
  2. (Canada, US, specifically) A speech given by a valedictorian at a commencement or graduation ceremony.

valedictory meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

valedictory in Urdu

خطاب وداعی

valedictory in Bengali

শেষ ভাষণ

valedictory in Malayalam

goodbye, farewell, leaving
യാത്രാമംഗളപരമായ, യാത്രഅയപ്പുസംബന്ധിച്ച, യാത്രപറയുന്ന, യാത്രാശിസ് നേരുന്ന, വിടവാങ്ങുന്ന, യാത്രപറഞ്ഞുപിരിയുന്ന

valedictory in Kannada

ಬೀಳ್ಕೊಡುಗೆಯ

Examples of valedictory in a sentence

  • While delivering these valedictory observations, Wegg continually disappointed Mr.1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Two New Servants”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
  • It was illustrated on page 617 of our October issue and the class as a whole was the subject of a valedictory article in our August, 1959 issue.1961 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: Eastern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 760:
  • When Fyodor had come up to Izzy six months ago, it had been understood as a valedictory mission before getting shunted to an administrator's job at Roskosmos.2015, Neal Stephenson, Seveneves, London: The Borough Press, HarperCollins, published 2016, →ISBN, page 93:

Synonyms of valedictory

Forms of valedictory

pluralvaledictories

Origin of valedictory

From Latin valedictum + English -ory (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘that which pertains to’, or adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Valedictum is the accusative supine of valedīcō (“to bid farewell; to give a valediction”), from valē (“farewell, goodbye”) (the imperative of valeō (“to be healthy or well; to be strong; to have influence or power”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“powerful, strong; to rule”)) + dīcō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)). By surface analysis, valedict + -ory.

Words formed from valedictory

Questions about valedictory

What does valedictory mean?
Valedictory means of or pertaining to a valediction (“an act of parting company; a speech made when parting company”); designed for or suitable to an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.
What is valedictory in Urdu?
Valedictory in Urdu is خطاب وداعی. See Valedictory meaning in Urdu.
How do you use valedictory in a sentence?
While delivering these valedictory observations, Wegg continually disappointed Mr.
What part of speech is valedictory?
Valedictory can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce valedictory?
Valedictory is pronounced /ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/ (UK).

Words near valedictory in the dictionary

  1. valedictions
  2. valedictorian
  3. valedictorians
  4. valedictories
  5. valedictorily
  6. valedictory
  7. valedicts
  8. Valek
  9. Valeks
  10. valencane
  11. valencanes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: valedictory (page history and authors); valedictory (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); valedictory (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); valedictory (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); valedictory (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-valedictory.wav.

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