germinal
1 Americannoun
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(in the French Revolutionary calendar) the seventh month of the year, extending from March 21 to April 19.
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(italics) a novel (1884) by Émile Zola.
adjective
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of, relating to, or like germs or a germ cell
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of, or in the earliest stage of development; embryonic
noun
Other Word Forms
- germinally adverb
- nongerminal adjective
- subgerminal adjective
- subgerminally adverb
Etymology
Origin of germinal1
First recorded in 1800–10; from French or directly from Latin germin- (stem of germen “sprout, bud”; germ ) + -al 1
Origin of Germinal2
From French; germinal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Viola also performed in avant-garde composer David Tudor’s germinal musical production, “Rainforest.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 13, 2024
The study documents germinal center–like structures in the spleens of rainbow trout, the first time anyone has detected them in bony fish.
From Science Magazine • Oct. 31, 2023
In the liner notes he wrote for a 2004 reissue of “John Somebody” on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, Mr. Johnson said that germinal material for the piece dated as far back as 1977.
From New York Times • Mar. 26, 2023
The cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker published his germinal text "The Denial of Death" in 1973.
From Salon • Oct. 10, 2022
Could the effects of this germinal mutation be undone?
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
