goodbyes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of goodbye.

   After a week of tearful goodbyes, the family finally boarded the ship.

   Their goodbyes lasted longer than the visit itself.

   Note

   A farewell turned into something you can count: the parting word becomes a noun for each act of saying it, so a family can share a week of tearful goodbyes before a ship sails. It most often follows say and a possessive (we said our goodbyes) or an adjective such as long or tearful. The same spelling also serves the verb's present-tense form, and a word like the, our or many in front marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of goodbye.

   Note

   Here goodbye works as an action, meaning to wish someone farewell on parting. It takes the person directly as its object, with no preposition: she goodbyes her viewers. It pairs naturally with hello used the same way. Where it could be mistaken for the plural noun, look for a singular subject such as he, she or the host just before it.

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