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throwback

throwback

21 7.1
A person or thing that has features from an earlier time
  • noun
  • /ˈθroʊˌbæk/
: vestigio
  • You pull up old pictures and now I thought it would be fun to do kind of a Throwback Thursday makeup edition.
  • a throwback to earlier times
  • a throwback to the old days
  • seem like a throwback

Bro, I posted a throwback the other day.

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Examples

  • My big fear is that the new Highway Bill is a huge throwback to the 1950s.

    Blog text (4)
  • Great hunter, sort of a throwback to Daniel Boone.

  • This dude right here is a throwback, you understand me?

  • Next video, this one this one is a throwback of my sister and I's old video.

  • It's a fantastic throwback to this van's long term predecessor.

  • Here's a throwback to the past, to the youth of this city.

  • He was like a throwback to another era.

  • And so Quentin is a real throwback to old school Hollywood filmmaking.

  • But they are really cool and they're a throwback to a great era in Rolex design.

    GQ
  • That vintage car is a throwback to the classic designs of the 1960s.

Synonyms

retro
vsthrowback
58 5.0

A style that copies clothes or design from the recent past

is not limited to fashion imitation and can be older in origin
anachronism
vsthrowback
13 9.8

A person or thing from a different time that seems old-fashioned

is about showing older characteristics rather than being simply misplaced in time
relic of the past
vsthrowback
2 7.2

An object, custom, or idea from long ago that seems out of date

is about showing older features rather than being an original survivor
dino
vsthrowback
  • Informal
1 8.6

An old-fashioned person or thing that is out of date

is the neutral term for showing features of an earlier time
relic of bygone days
vsthrowback
1 9.1

An old object that reminds people of an earlier time

is used for things that display earlier traits rather than surviving originals
hark-back
vsthrowback
1 9.1

A return to an earlier style or idea

is a thing that actually shows older features rather than the act of referring
atavist
vsthrowback
  • Specialized
9.9

A person or animal that shows traits of a much older ancestor

is broader, covering any earlier time features not only genetic ones

Antonyms

39 4.3

A person who creates new ideas or ways of doing things

3 5.3

A person who has ideas and ways typical of the present time

How Retro

antique
113 5.2
throwback
21 7.1
retro
58 5.0
contemporary
241 4.2

Surface Forms

throwback singular
throwbacks plural

Morphology

throwback = throw (semi-transparent) = back + throw

The components 'throw' + 'back' suggest 'thrown back' or reversion, which helps infer the meaning, but the noun sense ('a person or thing showing earlier features') is a figurative extension not strictly predictable from literal parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'back' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Throwback comes from the simple parts throw and back, where 'throw back' means to send something back to an earlier time. So a throwback is a person or thing that seems sent back from the past and shows older features.