seminal
Americanadjective
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pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.
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Botany. of or relating to seed.
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having possibilities of future development.
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highly original and influencing the development of future events.
a seminal artist; seminal ideas.
- Synonyms:
- innovative, formative, primary, germinal
adjective
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potentially capable of development
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highly original, influential, and important
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rudimentary or unformed
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of or relating to semen
seminal fluid
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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"
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This Week in Pop Culture: February 2 - 8, 2019
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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.
Albuquerque is revisiting “Spine of the Earth,” one of her seminal pieces, for the exhibition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Wiles revealed that she doesn’t have “these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives. I don’t have that.”
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
As a director, his output included classic films like 1984's rock music mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap," fantasy gem "The Princess Bride" from 1987 and seminal coming-of-age movie "Stand By Me."
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 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
That was the genesis of what would become one of the seminal documents of the atomic age, Albert Einstein’s message to Franklin Roosevelt, dated August 2, 1939.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
