throwback — English Dictionary

throwback
Pronunciations (4)
  • /ˈθɹəʊ.bæk/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈθɹoʊ.bæk/
    Pronunciation notes
    • US
  • ˈθɹəʊ.bæk
    Pronunciation notes
    • GB
  • ˈθɹoʊ.bæk
    Pronunciation notes
    • US

Noun

  1. A reversion to an earlier stage of development.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (3)

    You see, the House of Representatives recently passed a military budget that is wholly inadequate, a throwback to the seventies, a budget that is a breach of faith with our Armed Forces and our allies and would send exactly the wrong signal to the Soviets and their satellites.

    The man from the future where technology makes all things possible is a throwback to our glorious industrial past, before America stagnated and stopped producing anything but rules, restrictions, limits, obstacles and Facebook.

    My next train is a throwback to earlier times. TfW is now the only operator of the old single-car Class 153s (apart from a handful of ScotRail bike-carrying conversions), and a pair of them have turned up to take me to Carmarthen.

  2. A person considered to be primitive, uncivilized and mentally deficient.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Derogatory
    • Uncountable
  3. An organism that has characteristics of a more primitive form.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
  4. An atavism.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
  5. A person similar to an ancestor, or something new similar to what already existed.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    "But this is marvellous. It might be his portrait." "Yes, it is an interesting instance of a throw-back, which appears to be both physical and spiritual. A study of family portraits is enough to convert a man to the doctrine of reincarnation. The fellow is a Baskerville—that is evident."

  6. A person or thing that evokes memories.

    Usage
    • attributive
    • Countable
    • often
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (2)

    Céline Dion belted her iconic song "My Heart Will Go On" in a show-stopping performance at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards on May 21. The legendary singer gave the throwback performance in honor of the 20th anniversary of the hit song from the Titanic soundtrack.

    It’s tempting to dismiss the 15-person outfit as out of touch. But Mayer may be onto something with Sunshine, and that’s nostalgia. Throwback tech is all the rage these days.

  7. A practice to avoid untaxed nowhere income by instead taxing such income in the originating state for a given transaction.

    Usage
    • US usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (3)

    Under the throwback rule, sales into a state where the taxpayer is not taxable are “thrown back” from the destination state to the origin state by adding the nontaxable sales to the numerator in the apportionment factor.

    The effect of the throwback rule is to distribute income according to sales in the origin state. The effect of the throwout rule is to distribute income according to the taxpayer’s overall activities as measured by the other apportionment factors.

    Attributing the gross receipts to the Member State of origin (i.e. applying a throwback rule) constitutes a benefit for that state that is not justified by the rationale of the gross receipts factor.

Adjective

  1. characteristic of an atavist

    Synonyms

Noun

  1. an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  2. a reappearance of an earlier characteristic

    Broader terms
Word forms
throwbacks

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