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Bookmark or Share- When is it appropriate to use "see you later"?Generally speaking, "see you later" is just slang for goodbye. I have heard it used in all of the situations you list in your question. The order you present matching the order I would give them for frequency/commonness. When you will be seeing the person again later that day. All the time.
- "Good bye", "Bye", "Bye bye" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange(The origin of "goodbye" is "God be with you", so arguably the other person ought to be going on a significant journey that you have to wish such support.) This distinction is probably lost on many people, but I have seen people startled when the wrong variant is used. As for the "bye" variants, I'd say "goodbye": quite formal
- What is the meaning of "Fare thee well"?In all cases it means "goodbye" but carries connotations of goodwill and affection: it would be unlikely that anyone would use it when parting on bad terms. According to The Online Etymological Dictionary "to a fare thee well" meaning to perfection only dates from the late 19th century and only in the US.
- Goodbye or good-bye? - WordReference ForumsI am almost certain that the Chicago Manual of Style advocates for goodbye, but I don't have it handy to check. I believe that good-bye is an older usage. The tendency (at least in the American writing an editing profession) has been to eliminate hyphens when they don't add clarity or meaning.
- goodbye, farewell, so long | WordReference ForumsI believe that "goodbye" is used far more often than "farewell" which sounds to my ears much more formal. (I used to quote Google hits to determine if a word was used more often but I have come to believe that those numbers are not reliable indicators of usage.) From informal to more formal: bye-bye, goodbye, farewell (to my ears at any rate).
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