seminal
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.
-
Botany. of or relating to seed.
-
having possibilities of future development.
-
highly original and influencing the development of future events.
a seminal artist; seminal ideas.
- Synonyms:
- innovative, formative, primary, germinal
adjective
-
potentially capable of development
-
highly original, influential, and important
-
rudimentary or unformed
-
of or relating to semen
seminal fluid
-
biology of or relating to seed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of seminal
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin sēminālis, equivalent to sēmin- (stem of sēmen ) seed, semen + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
Call something seminal when it's so original, so groundbreaking and awesome that it will influence everything that comes after it. Picasso produced more than a few seminal works of art, for example. Technically, seminal means something related to semen or seeds. But these days people more often use the word to describe something that plants the seed for creative growth. An innovative piece of music or literature, a fresh new idea, or an invention that changes everything could each be called seminal. Synonyms include critical, fundamental, original, and primary.
Vocabulary lists containing seminal
100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Pop Culture: February 2 - 8, 2019
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Just Mercy
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
In 1998 she wrote the seminal essay on official Washington’s state of mind during Ken Starr’s investigation into Bill Clinton.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Or take a seminal moment of the dot-com boom: In December 1998, internet analyst Henry Blodget put an audacious price target on Amazon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
"Their listings could be seminal for the Indian markets in the way the marquee offerings of software companies became many decades ago," he adds.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
A co-author of a seminal research paper that kicked off the AI boom, Shazeer quit the company in 2021 to start his own company after Google refused to release a chatbot he developed.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
But in part because it seemed so seminal and symbolic of sectional cooperation, the Adams-Jefferson tandem stood out as the greatest collaboration of them all.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
