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• germinal
  germinal

  adjective

  being in the earliest stage of development.
• Germinal
  Germinal

  noun

  (in the French Revolutionary calendar) the seventh month of the year, extending from March 21 to April 19.

germinal

¹ American  

[jur-muh-nl] / ˈdʒɜr mə nl /

adjective

1. being in the earliest stage of development.

   germinal ideas.

2. of or relating to a germ or germs.

3. of the nature of a germ or germ cell.

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Germinal ² American  

[jur-muh-nl, zher-mee-nal] / ˈdʒɜr mə nl, ʒɛr miˈnal /

noun

1. (in the French Revolutionary calendar) the seventh month of the year, extending from March 21 to April 19.

2. (italics) a novel (1884) by Émile Zola.

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germinal ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒɜːmɪnəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or like germs or a germ cell

2. of, or in the earliest stage of development; embryonic

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Germinal ² British  

/ ʒɛrminal /

noun

1. the month of buds: the seventh month of the French revolutionary calendar, from March 22 to April 20

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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”; see origin at germ) + -al ¹

Origin of Germinal²

From French; see origin at germinal

Explanation

Germinal, an adjective, describes something that is just starting to happen, like all the planning you did and people you got interested in joining the running club when it was just an idea. That's the germinal stage. To correctly pronounce germinal, accent the first syllable: "JER-mih-nul." You can see and hear germ in germinal. It comes from the Latin word germen, or "sprout, bud, sprig, offshoot." So, something in its germinal stage is just beginning, like when you are thinking about possible topics for the research report you are going to write.

Example Sentences

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

He became rather technical; spoke of the abnormal endocrine co-ordination which made men grow so slowly; postulated a germinal mutation to account for it.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Related Words

• burgeoning
• fledgling
• growing
• incipient
• nascent
• promising