throwback

IPA/ˈθrəʊbæk/
KK[θrˈobˌæk]IPA/ˈθrəʊbæk/

throwback — noun

  • throwbacksingular
  • throwbacksplural

1. someone or something that makes people think of an earlier period because its st

1.nounB2
Definition

someone or something that makes people think of an earlier period because its style or behavior feels old-fashioned.

Example

The diner with red stools feels like a throwback to the 1950s.

pattern: throwback to + earlier time

Nala's cassette player is a throwback beside everyone else's phones.

contrast: old device beside modern phones

Common collocations
  • a real throwback
  • throwback to the 1950s
  • feel like a throwback
  • look like a throwback
Synonyms
  • holdover

    stresses something that has remained from an earlier period, not just something with an old-style feel

  • relic

    often suggests an actual surviving old object, sometimes with a stronger sense of age

Antonyms
  • innovation

    something clearly new rather than shaped by an earlier style

Grammar Patterns

a throwback to + earlier time

look like a throwback

be a throwback

Usage Note

Often followed by to when naming the earlier time, style, or habit it resembles. This sense is commonly playful or approving, not always critical.

Common Mistakes

This cafe is a throwback of the 1980s.
This cafe is a throwback to the 1980s.
English usually uses 'to' after throwback when you name the earlier period.

2. the return of a feature from a much earlier stage, especially one that appears a

2.nounC2
Definition

the return of a feature from a much earlier stage, especially one that appears again in a living thing after seeming to disappear.

Example

The extra toe on the calf was described as a throwback.

pattern: describe something as a throwback

Scientists called the small wings a throwback to an older form.

pattern: throwback to + earlier form

Common collocations
  • an evolutionary throwback
  • a genetic throwback
  • describe as a throwback
  • throwback trait
Synonyms
  • atavism

    the more technical scientific term for the same idea

  • reversion

    broader formal word for going back to an earlier state

Grammar Patterns

a throwback to + earlier form

describe something as a throwback

show a throwback

Usage Note

Mainly used in biology, medicine, and related formal writing. Distinguish it from sense 1, which is about an old-fashioned style rather than an ancestral feature returning.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all point back to the past, but they do not focus on the same thing. A throwback is something or someone that makes people feel they have stepped into an earlier time, often because of style, design, or behavior. A holdover is something that has simply remained from an older system or habit, even if nobody finds it charming. A relic usually names an actual old object that survived from the past and often sounds more historical or worn. Retro item is a plain phrase for something made or styled to look old-fashioned, even when it is brand-new. Use throwback when the key idea is the strong old-time feel, not just age or survival.

throwback ↗holdover ↗relic ↗retro item

Common collocations

Nouns

  • a real throwback
  • a biological throwback
  • a genetic throwback
  • throwback trait

Phrases

  • feel like a throwback
  • look like a throwback
  • describe as a throwback

Prepositions

  • throwback to the 1950s
  • throwback to an earlier form

Etymology

English

Throwback is a modern English compound built from throw and back. The image is of being sent back to an earlier time or stage, which explains both the everyday sense of an old-style reminder and the formal sense of an ancestral feature returning.

First known use

1883

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 2b Verb