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bye Meaning & Definition

ˈbī

What Does Bye Mean?

Bye is a noun that means the position of a participant in a tournament who advances to the next round without playing. As an interjection, it means used as a shortened form of goodbye to express farewell. As an adjective, it means being off the main route.

Quick Facts About Bye

Part of speechnoun, interjection, adjective
Pronunciation/ˈbī/
Synonymspass, side and adieu
Pluralbyes
Comparative / superlativemore bye, most bye

Bye Definition (Noun)

  1. the position of a participant in a tournament who advances to the next round without playing

    drew a first-round bye

Bye as an Interjection

  1. —used as a shortened form of goodbye to express farewell

Noun

  1. something of secondary importance : a side issue

    by the by

Bye as an Adjective

  1. being off the main route : side

    a by passage

  2. incidental

    by effects

Interjection

  1. —used to express farewell—often used with following now

Synonyms of Bye

Bye synonyms and antonyms →

Bye in a Sentence

Craig's Crew plays the bye next week.

geography bee

The mailbox is by the bus stop.

He ran straight by me.

Be back by ten o'clock!.

There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare

By 'maybe' she means 'no'.

By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.

I sorted the items by category.

His date of birth was wrong by ten years.

We crawled forward by inches.

By my reckoning, we should be nearly there.

It is easy to invert a 2-by-2 matrix.

She's a lovely little filly, by Big Lad, out of Damsel in Distress.

drew a first-round bye

by the by

a by passage

by effects

Word Forms & Grammar

byes

by

bye

bys

bye (plural byes)

bye (comparative more bye, superlative most bye)

Words That Rhyme With Bye

Origin of Bye

Origin 1: alteration of by:2

Origin 2: see by:1

Origin 3: short for goodbye

Origin 4: Variant form of by, from Old English bī (“being near”).

Origin 5: Shortened form of goodbye.

Origin 6: Alternative forms.

First Known Use

1883

1618

1567

14th century

Frequently Asked Questions About Bye

Is bye a noun or an interjection?

Bye is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as an interjection and an adjective.

What is another word for bye?

Words with a similar meaning to bye include pass, side and adieu. See the full list of bye synonyms and antonyms.

What is the plural of bye?

The plural of bye is byes.

What are the comparative and superlative forms of bye?

The comparative form is more bye and the superlative form is most bye.

Merriam-WebsterReference content from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary and Collegiate® Thesaurus © Merriam-Webster Inc.Data credits & licensing