INDEX:
1. ways of saying goodbye
2. ways of saying goodnight
3. to say or wave goodbye to someone
RELATED WORDS
opposite
↑ HELLO
see also
↑ LEAVE
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1. ways of saying goodbye
▷ goodbye/bye /gʊdˈbaɪ, baɪ/ spoken
say this when you are leaving or when someone is leaving you. Bye is more informal than goodbye :
▪ ‘Goodbye, Mrs Moore.’ ‘Goodbye, Dr Aziz.’
▪ Goodbye, Louise. See you soon.
▪ Thank you for calling. Goodbye.
▪ ‘Bye, Annie.’ ‘Bye, Mom,’ she said, kissing her mother on the cheek.
bye for now
say this to a friend who you will see again soon
▪ I’ve got some stuff to do. Maybe we can have a drink or something later tonight. Anyway, bye for now.
▷ see you also see you later/see you around /ˈsiː juː, ˌsiː juː ˈleɪtəʳ, ˌsiː juː əˈraʊnd/ spoken informal
use this to say goodbye to a friend you will see again soon :
▪ See you, Darren.
▪ Bye, Dad. I’ll see you later.
▪ You’re still coming to the party tonight, aren’t you? Good. See you later then.
▪ She turned at the gate and waved. ‘See you around, Billy.’
see you tomorrow/in the morning/at the club etc
▪ ‘See you in the morning,’ she said as she closed the door.
▪ ‘We’ll be back early next week.’ ‘Okay. See you then.’
see you soon
▪ Safe trip back guys and we’ll see you soon.
▷ later/catch you later /ˈleɪtəʳ, ˌkætʃ juː ˈleɪtəʳ/ especially American, spoken
use this to say goodbye to a friend you will see again soon. Later and catch you later are used especially by young people :
▪ Catch you later, Matt.
▪ ‘Later, Mike.’ ‘Later, Steve.’
▷ so long /səʊ ˈlɒŋǁ-ˈlɔːŋ/ American spoken
use this to say goodbye to someone you do not expect to meet again for a long time :
▪ ‘So long,’ he said. ‘Don’t forget to write.’
▪ She grabbed Nick by the shoulders and hugged him affectionately. ‘So long, Nick.’
▷ have a nice day/good weekend/great time etc /ˌhæv ə ˌnaɪs ˈdeɪ/ spoken
say this when you are saying good bye to someone to wish them a good day, a good weekend, a good holiday etc :
▪ Have a nice weekend.
▪ Have a great time at the concert, you guys!
▷ have a good one /ˌhæv ə ˈgʊd wʌn/ American spoken
say this when you are saying goodbye to someone to wish them a nice day :
▪ ‘I’m off to work.’ ‘Alright, have a good one.’
▷ take care /ˌteɪk ˈkeəʳ/ spoken
use this to say goodbye to family or friends :
▪ ‘All right, Pat. Take care.’ ‘You too, Sally. Bye bye.’
▪ Take care and we’ll talk to you soon.
▷ take it easy /ˌteɪk ɪt ˈiːzi/ American spoken
use this to say goodbye to a friend or member of your family :
▪ ‘See you next week.’ ‘Yeah, take it easy.’
▷ nice to meet you/nice meeting you /ˌnaɪs tə ˈmiːt juː, ˌnaɪs ˈmiːtɪŋ juː/ spoken
say this when you are going to leave someone who you have just met for the first time :
▪ Well, it was nice meeting you guys.
▪ ‘It was nice to meet you, Paul.’ ‘Nice to meet you too, Joanne.’
2. ways of saying goodnight
▷ goodnight/night /gʊdˈnaɪt, naɪt/ spoken
say this to say goodbye to someone in the evening. Night is more informal than goodnight :
▪ Goodnight. Thanks for having us.
▪ ‘Night, folks.’ ‘Goodnight, Don. Careful driving.’
▷ night night /ˌnaɪt ˈnaɪt/ spoken
goodbye - use this especially to children :
▪ ‘Night night, Timmy.’ ‘Night, Mommy.’
3. to say or wave goodbye to someone
▷ say goodbye /ˌseɪ gʊdˈbaɪ/ [verb phrase]
to say goodbye to someone, or to say the last things that you want to say to them before you leave each other :
▪ I’ve just come to say goodbye.
▪ They left so suddenly, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.
say goodbye to
▪ I said goodbye to the kids and got into the car.
▷ say your goodbyes /ˌseɪ jɔːʳ gʊdˈbaɪz/ [verb phrase]
if two or more people say their goodbyes, they say the last things they want to say to each other before leaving each other for a long time :
▪ We delayed saying our goodbyes until the last possible moment.
▪ Adam went to get the car as Billie and Jenny said their goodbyes.
▷ wave goodbye /ˌweɪv gʊdˈbaɪ/ [verb phrase]
to wave to someone as they go away from you or as you leave them :
▪ ‘Come back soon!’ called Mary, waving goodbye from behind the gate.
wave goodbye to
▪ She waved goodbye to him through the car window.
▪ As we left, I turned to wave goodbye to Helen.
▷ wave somebody off /ˌweɪv somebody ˈɒf/ [transitive phrasal verb] British
to wave to someone as they go away from you :
▪ She waved them off, then went slowly back inside.
▪ A crowd of children had gathered on the station platform to wave him off.
▪ She looked back and saw her mother waving her off from the kitchen door.
▷ see somebody off /ˌsiː somebody ˈɒf/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to go with someone to the door of your house or to a place such as a station or airport in order to say goodbye to them when they leave :
▪ All our friends had come to the airport to see us off.
▪ Mrs Carey went to the door to see him off.
▪ Dee was up the next day at sunrise to see me off.
▷ bid somebody farewell /ˌbɪd somebody feəʳˈwel/ [verb phrase] formal
to say goodbye to someone, especially when you know you will not meet again for a very long time - used especially in literature :
▪ The time has come to bid you all farewell.
▪ Some 400 Pakistani soldiers turned out to bid their comrades farewell.
bid farewell to somebody
▪ Queen Victoria bade farewell to her most trusted servant.