throwback

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throwback

  • /ˈθɹəʊ.bæk/ UK
  • /ˈθɹoʊ.bæk/ US

Where it comes from

Deverbal from throw back.

noun throwbacks

  1. countable, uncountable 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.
  2. countable, derogatory, uncountable A person considered to be primitive, uncivilized and mentally deficient.
  3. countable, uncountable An organism that has characteristics of a more primitive form.
  4. countable, uncountable An atavism.
  5. countable, uncountable 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."
  6. attributive, countable, often, slang, uncountable 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.
  7. US, countable, uncountable A practice to avoid untaxed nowhere income by instead taxing such income in the originating state for a given transaction. Under the throwback rule, sales into a state where the taxpayer is not taxable are “thrown back” from the destination state to the origin state by adding the nontaxable sales to the numerator in the apportionment factor.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: regressive, reversion, atavism, atavistic, atavist, regression, regress, retrogression, rollback, backsliding, retract, return, reversal, fallback, back, reverse

Translations

Every language

noun reversion to an earlier stage of development

Españolsalto [hacia / para] atrás, retroceso, reversión, vuelta al pasado
日本語先祖返り senzogaeri
Françaisretour en arrière, retour au passé
DeutschRückfall, Rückwurf
Italianoritorno al passato, tuffo nel passato

noun organism that has characteristics of a more primitive form

日本語先祖返り senzogaeri

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Cite this
MLA

"throwback." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/throwback. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

throwback. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/throwback

Chicago

"throwback." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/throwback.

BibTeX
@misc{throwback_2026,
  title = {throwback},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/throwback},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}