Vestige
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A mark left on the earth by a foot.
- 2 an indication that something has been present wordnet
- 3 A faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present. broadly
"the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra"
- 4 A vestigial organ; a non-functional organ or body part that was once functional in an evolutionary ancestor.
"Any person seeing such a condition could not help being frightened at the conditions found, and it seems to me that that fact should lead us to think that the appendix is a vestige or becoming so."
- 5 The remaining portion of a partially suppressed sideband.
"[J]ust a trace, or vestige, of the other sideband is included. In the receiver detection circuitry the vestige of the lower sideband is added to the upper sideband."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"One only vestige of his fate appeared. A large sable feather had been detached from his hat, and the rippling waves of the rising tide wafted it to Caleb's feet."
Etymology
From French vestige, from Latin vestīgium (“footstep, footprint, track, the sole of the foot, a trace, mark”). Doublet of vestigium.
Related phrases
More for "vestige"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.