valedictory
/ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/
Detailed reference entry for the English word "valedictory", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "valedictory" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "valedictory" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“valedictory” is an uncommon English word, ranked #78,254 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #78,254
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to a valediction (“an act of parting company; a speech made when parting company”); designed for or suitable to an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.
Compare similar words
See how valedictory compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | valedictory |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #78,254 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “valedictory” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for valedictory is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #78,254 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for valedictory in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin valedictum + English -ory (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘that which pertains to’, or adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Valedictum is the accusative supine of valedīcō (“to bid farewell; to give a valediction”), from valē (“farewell, good… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is valedictory, spelled V-A-L-E-D-I-C-T-O-R-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to a valediction (“an act of parting company; a speech made when parting company”); designed for or suitable to an occasion of bidding farewell or parting company.
- 2Of or pertaining to a valedictorian (“the individual in a graduating class who delivers the farewell address, often the person who graduates with the highest grades”).
Etymology
From Latin valedictum + English -ory (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘that which pertains to’, or adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Valedictum is the accusative supine of valedīcō (“to bid farewell; to give a valediction”), from valē (“farewell, goodbye”) (the imperative of valeō (“to be healthy or well; to be strong; to have influence or power”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“powerful, strong; to rule”)) + dīcō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)). By surface analysis, valedict + -ory.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “valedictory, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/valedictory
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Using “valedictory”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-L-E-D-I-C-T-O-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌvælɪˈdɪktəɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter V in our English index: