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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Just Mercy
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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.
That’s the implication of a seminal study, entitled “Bubbles for Fama,” which challenges University of Chicago professor Eugene Fama’s famous claim that bubbles cannot be identified in advance.
From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026
There was testimony from the world’s richest man and his fiercest rivals, corporate secrets, candid emails, unforgettable texts and seminal documents that show what really happened over the past decade.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
"This study offers a seminal contribution to our understanding of aqueous solution thermodynamics," said co-author and Mechanical Engineering Department Head Dr. Guillermo Aguilar, who serves as the James and Ada Forsyth Professor.
From Science Daily • Apr. 27, 2026
Schaffner points out several striking black-and-white photographs by Catherine Opie and Lorna Simpson that document those years, identifying younger versions of seminal art world figures.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026
One’s answer, it turned out, depended a great deal on which founding moment, 1776 or 1787, seemed most seminal.
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.
