good riddance

From good + riddance (“act of ridding or removal; relief involving getting rid of something”), possibly influenced by the earlier obsolete terms fair riddance^[1] and gentle riddance.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪd(ə)n(t)s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪdn̩(t)s/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: good rid‧dance

good riddance

1. Used to indicate that a departure or loss is welcome.

   Synonym: good riddings

   I couldn’t be more glad to see the back of them. Good riddance, I say.

   Goodbye and good riddance!

   • 1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, page 17:

     Mrs Inconſiderate, alſo replyed, ſaying, avvay vvith ſuch Fantaſtical Fools from the Tovvn, a good riddance, for my par[t], I ſay, of her. Should ſhe ſtay vvhere ſhe dvvels, and retain this her mind, vvho could live quietly by her? for ſhe vvill either be dumpiſh or unneighbourly, or talk of ſuch matters as no vviſe body can abide: […]

   • 1859 January 1 (date written), James Brown Kendall, “Letter to J. W. B., on His Giving Up His School and Becoming Representative”, in Poems, Framingham, Mass.: J. C. Clark, […], published 1878, →OCLC, pages 48–49:

     And the nephew says good riddance, / And the uncle says good riddance, / And the Aunt, she says good riddance, / And the cousins say good riddance, / All the household in a chorus, / Singing in a household chorus, / Bid the boys good bye, and also— / Bid the boys good riddance also, / "No more walking says the uncle— / Walking up and down the school room / Teaching little boys their letters, / Bothering my brains with school boys, / Bothering their brains with letters.["]

   • 2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may Look Goofy, but Ostriches are Nobody’s Fool”, in National Geographic‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, published September 2020, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 February 2021:

     After 50 years of farming, [Maurice] Fisch too has left the ostrich business, and says good riddance. […] Ostriches, says Fisch, are "stupid birds that just had nice feathers."

• This term almost always has a negative connotation.

good riddance (plural good riddances)

1. A welcome departure or loss.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) fair riddance, (obsolete) gentle riddance, good riddings

   • 1597 August 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh, “The Lord Deputy Burgh to Sir Robert Cecil”, in Ernest George Atkinson, editor, Calendar of the State Papers, Relating to Ireland, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1596, July – 1597, December. […], volume [VI], Nendeln, Eschen, Leichtenstein: Kraus Reprint, Kraus-Thomson Organization, published 1974, →OCLC, paragraph 72, page 364:

     The fortification whereof he last advertised has required more time than he expected, "or in good riddance needed."

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature D, recto:

     Ther[sites]. I vvill ſee you hang'd like Clatpoles, ere I come any more to your tents, I vvill keepe vvhere there is vvit ſtirring, and leaue the faction of fooles. Exit. / Patro[clus]. A good riddance.

   • 1701, Marcus Antoninus [i.e., Marcus Aurelius], “Book X”, in Jeremy Collier, transl., The Emperor Marcus Antoninus His Conversation with Himself. […], London: […] Richard Sare, […], →OCLC, paragraph XXXVI, page 200:

     There's no Body ſo Happy in his Family and Friends, but that ſome of them vvhen they ſee him going, vvill vviſh for a good Riddance, and almoſt keep a Holy Day for his Death: […]

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Mr. Dombey and the World”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 510:

     [T]o tell you my mind, Lucretia, I think it's a good riddance. I don't want any of your brazen faces here, myself!

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 50:

     Compeyson took it easy as a good riddance for both sides.

   • 2003, Herbert Zincke, with Scott A. Mills, “Never Enough to Eat: January 1, 1944, to October 31, 1944”, in Mitsui Madhouse: Memoir of a U.S. Army Air Corps POW in World War II, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 105:

     Lt. Saito and Bucktooth Kasuya left camp on October 12—good riddances. But Saito was back twelve days later and decided the barracks area of my chow section was not clean enough. Shiozawa had me sweep it up.

• This term almost always has a negative connotation.

• Good Riddance (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “a good (†fair, †gentle) riddance, good riddance” under “riddance, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2024.
• “good riddance, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Gary Martin (1997–) “Good riddance”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 26 February 2017.
• “good riddance”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “good riddance to somebody” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.