seasonal
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Commonly Confused
Seasonal and seasonable are sometimes interchanged, probably because of their obvious connection with season. In edited prose and in formal speech these two adjectives are almost always distinguished. Seasonal describes phenomena that occur with or depend upon a season or the seasons: seasonal fluctuations in rainfall; seasonal sales. Seasonable in reference to weather means “suitable to or characteristic of the season”: a seasonable December; seasonable temperatures for July. Seasonable also has the sense “timely, opportune”: a seasonable offer of financial assistance.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of seasonal
Explanation
Seasonal things happen periodically, during a certain season. In most stores, Christmas decorations and candy canes are seasonal items. You'll probably find all kinds of fruit all year long in a large grocery store, but your local farmer's market most likely carries mainly seasonal fruit. This means they'll have apples in the fall, when they're in season, and strawberries in the spring. Workers are sometimes described as seasonal too — when they're employed just for the summer, for example: "The cafe hired lots of seasonal baristas in June."
Vocabulary lists containing seasonal
Weather and Climate - Introductory
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Weather and Climate - Middle School
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Earth Science - Middle School
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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.
JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon suggested on his bank’s analyst call that he personally thought the fourth quarter might defy the usual seasonal slowdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
This seasonal cycle has continued for thousands of years, but satellite measurements reveal that the amount of ice covering the ocean has declined substantially at both ends of the cycle.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
It will be a different story further north and west with temperatures in much of Scotland and Northern Ireland sitting around the seasonal norm.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Courtney Iseman renders a verdict on this particular type of seasonal creep.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
Much of the savanna is natural, the result of seasonal flooding.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
