as in fogy
a person or thing that is similar to someone or something from the past or that is suited to an earlier time
—usually + to
She's a throwback to the actresses of the 1950s. The band's music is a throwback to the 1980s.
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Recent Examples of throwback
Amplified Content Studio, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
These handwritten letters, which lend a quaint quality to the storytelling, are a delightful throwback to an era when penmanship was celebrated.
—Shruti Mutalik, Baltimore Sun, 7 Jan. 2026
The Hurricanes are back on college football’s biggest stage, not as a novelty, not as a throwback, but as a legitimate playoff team built for modern college football.
—Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
Emery’s influence has continued to grow at Villa since, to the point that his position feels like a throwback to the days when managers were figureheads.
—Stuart James, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for throwback
Noun
Similarly, Julian, nestled in the mountains east of San Diego, is a nostalgic throwback to the gold rush era.
—Amplified Content Studio, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
These handwritten letters, which lend a quaint quality to the storytelling, are a delightful throwback to an era when penmanship was celebrated.
—Shruti Mutalik, Baltimore Sun, 7 Jan. 2026
The Hurricanes are back on college football’s biggest stage, not as a novelty, not as a throwback, but as a legitimate playoff team built for modern college football.
—Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
Emery’s influence has continued to grow at Villa since, to the point that his position feels like a throwback to the days when managers were figureheads.
—Stuart James, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for throwback
Recent Examples of Synonyms for throwback
Noun
-
Old fogey-ish, ungrateful and stupid.—
Katie Hafner,
Scientific American,
10 Sep. 2025
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These are people who know AI and have grown up with this stuff that these old fogies haven't.—
Alison Snyder,
Axios,
23 Feb. 2025
Verb
-
Davidson, who shot 0 for 14 in the final three quarters, briefly left the game in the third as well, but returned for the start of the fourth.—
Haley Sawyer,
Oc Register,
16 Jan. 2026
-
Under every Sale & Clearance section is a link to open-box deals, which are dramatically discounted items that have been opened and returned, potentially without their packaging.—
Quincy Bulin,
Better Homes & Gardens,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Public power is the answer to this fossil-fuel graft.—
Diana Moreno,
New York Daily News,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Like Homo antecessor, the Casablanca fossils have a mix of characteristics from Homo erectus, ourselves and our cousins.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The 1971 Vikings were the other team, and Minnesota wound up falling at home to Dallas in its initial playoff contest.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
13 Jan. 2026
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In witness footage shared by the police, the paraglider is seen falling from the sky with a faulty parachute and spiraling quickly towards the waters below, before smashing into the ocean in front of horrified beachgoers.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Don Camillo, Syracuse This Syracuse institution, right in the heart of Ortigia’s maze of buttermilk antiquity, is an elegant old-timer, with bags of vaulted ceiling and wrought iron chandelier character.—
Rosalyn Wikeley,
Condé Nast Traveler,
12 Jan. 2026
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Lamar Jackson is the most dynamic football player Baltimore has seen since Ray Lewis or, for us old-timers, since Johnny Unitas and Lenny Moore.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
4 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Trey Rose, 27, who was also arrested, met Samson Nacua at another location and got in the car, also not knowing the car belonged to someone else, according to a sheriff’s detective who declined to be named.—
Sierra van der Brug,
Daily News,
16 Jan. 2026
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On Wednesday, a federal judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the operations.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Ken Blake Brea Sorry to see Jerry Neuheisel leave UCLA to join traitor and coaching has-been Chip Kelly at Northwestern.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Jan. 2026
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All this success begs the legitimate question of how the once-struggling reality show for has-been celebrities reinvented itself and became a pop-cultural phenomenon that any public figure would be lucky to utilize as their re-introduction into the zeitgeist.—
McKinley Franklin,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Nov. 2025
Verb
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After a police operation in Rio de Janeiro in October degenerated into a chaotic shootout, leading to more than 120 deaths, Brazilian civil society groups reacted in horror.—
Brian Winter,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025
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Our national political and cultural discourse, especially online, has degenerated into a permanent fever dream.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Throwback.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/throwback. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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