contextual
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of contextual
1805–15; < Latin contextu-, stem of contextus context + -al 1
Explanation
Something contextual relies on its context or setting to make sense. If you touch someone and shout "You're it!" in a game of tag, people get it, but if you're in the grocery store tapping strangers on the shoulder and yelling at them, it's less contextual. You can use the adjective contextual to describe what something means as it relates to a place, or meaning in a written text. If someone asks you what contextual reason you have for choosing an answer after reading a chapter, for example, you'll have an opinion in the context of what you read — it is contextual because it came out of the text. Activities are contextual too: riding a skateboard in a dance studio is not contextual, but doing ballet there would be.
Vocabulary lists containing contextual
Symbolism and Allegory & Idea or Theme
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Turtles All the Way Down
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Form & Symbolism and Allusion
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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.
Contextual crime statistics just don’t hit the same as violent footage filling TV broadcasts and social media feeds.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2024
The exhibition, “Raphael Montañez Ortiz — A Contextual Retrospective,” opened at El Museo del Barrio on April 14 and is scheduled to run through Sept. 11.
From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2022
Contextual advertising, like ads that are specifically matched to online content, would be allowed.
From The Verge • Jan. 18, 2022
Contextual details of the trial include a summary of the defense and the jury’s reaction.
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
Contextual clues proved correct, and it is, as I suspected, the root word of snooty—someone snobbish or classist—but I’ve never heard anyone use it before.
From Slate • Jun. 19, 2019
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.
