as in fogey
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of throwback
Sara Belcher, People.com, 13 Mar. 2025
Another complainant alleges the lack of white people was somehow a throwback to a previous era, as if there was another period in history when only Black people performed at Super Bowl halftime shows.
—David Gilbert, Wired News, 27 Mar. 2025
Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2025
But when the man’s mother arrives on his doorstep weeks before Christmas, the two are thrown back into each other’s orbit for the first time in a decade.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for throwback
Noun
Amanda Seyfried shared a throwback from one of her first roles.
—Sara Belcher, People.com, 13 Mar. 2025
Another complainant alleges the lack of white people was somehow a throwback to a previous era, as if there was another period in history when only Black people performed at Super Bowl halftime shows.
—David Gilbert, Wired News, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
With each time warp, he’s thrown back further and further into the bodies of his most influential ancestors.
—Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2025
But when the man’s mother arrives on his doorstep weeks before Christmas, the two are thrown back into each other’s orbit for the first time in a decade.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for throwback
Recent Examples of Synonyms for throwback
Verb
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The Mavs are scrapping for players, though Anthony Davis has returned.—
Fred Katz,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
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In January, a man returned home to South Australia from a trip to New Zealand to find an eastern brown snake had taken up residence in his house.—
Kelli Bender,
People.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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And some of us older fogies, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.—
Lars Brandle,
Billboard,
10 Oct. 2023
Verb
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And bond market yields fall by about 150 basis points (1.5 percentage points).11 The Fed Fed Chair Powell says the Fed is waiting for the softening survey data to translate into hard data before moving toward lower interest rates.—
Robert Barone,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
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Mary had brought her mother, who had suffered multiple mental-health crises, to live with the family; Phyllis then fell ill with metastatic lung cancer, and Mary served as her caretaker.—
Sarah Stillman,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The circular dots found near the center of the fossil indicate that a predatory marine reptile called a mosasaur took some bites of it.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
16 Apr. 2025
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Assembled ancient genomes from both fossils and compared those to genomes of living animals, such as wolves, jackals and foxes.—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The hospital declined to say whether Ikner was one of their patients.—
Dalia Faheid,
CNN Money,
19 Apr. 2025
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County officials declined to comment on the civil lawsuit.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2025
Noun
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For decades, old-timers like me figured there was just no way anyone could get to 894.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
9 Apr. 2025
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From Matt Damon’s anxious pickpocket to Carl Reiner’s old-timer master of disguise, each member of the gang is unforgettable in their own way, and the precision with which Soderbergh arranges them during the big heist is hugely satisfying every time.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
Verb
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What if European savers, depicted by MAGA evangelists as rich and degenerate progressives, sold American assets and repatriated their savings?—
David McWilliams,
Time,
9 Apr. 2025
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When a seemingly routine Oval Office press conference degenerated into a shouting match on 28 February, the world looked on in astonishment.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Her being nominated for playing a grotesque has-been is, at the very least, a delicious irony.—
Tom Gliatto,
People.com,
2 Mar. 2025
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This isn’t a turn of events that Macchio, 63, possibly could have expected just a few years ago, when most of Hollywood had dismissed him as an Eighties has-been.—
Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone,
12 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Throwback.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/throwback. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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