seminal

adjective

sem·​i·​nal ˈse-mə-nᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen

seminal discharge

2

: containing or contributing the seeds of later development : creative, original

a seminal book

seminally

ˈse-mə-nᵊl-ē 

adverb

Examples of seminal in a Sentence

Kandel was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2000 for his seminal observation that it was in the action of the synapses between cells that memory existed, not in the cells themselves, and that a molecule called cyclic AMP was what allowed cells to retain memory over the long term. —Michael Greenberg, New York Review of Books, 4 Dec. 2008

Writer Susan Sontag died December 28 at age 71 after a long battle with cancer. She left behind an impressive body of fiction and criticism, including her seminal 1960s essays "Notes on Camp" and "Against Interpretation." —Allan Gurganus, Advocate, 1 Feb. 2005

I wonder if the curators who organized "Matisse Picasso" ever asked themselves why it was that Alfred H. Barr Jr., the first director of the Museum of Modern Art and the guiding spirit behind the museum's seminal exhibitions of both Picasso and Matisse, never mounted a show like the one that has now arrived at MoMA QNS. Such an exhibition might seem to be logical, almost inevitable for the Museum of Modern Art. —Jed Perl, New Republic, 3 Mar. 2003

Recent Examples on the Web

See The Official Trailer For 'A Christmas Story Christmas' By Shannon Power Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter 0 A Christmas Story has remained a seminal holiday movie since its release in 1983 and is a favorite to watch on Christmas Day. —Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024

But officials at the church, a seminal location of the Revolutionary War, painted over the angels in 1912 with thick coats of white paint, part of an austere renovation that restorationists are trying to reverse. —Michael Casey, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024

As younger Gen Z lesbians have pointed out, Leslie Feinberg (famously a butch trans lesbian) wrote Stone Butch Blues, hir seminal novel about the intersection of transmasculinity and lesbianism, in 1993. —Quispe López, Them, 18 Dec. 2024

Recently, to mark the 30th anniversary of his seminal album Selected Ambient Works II, Aphex Twin reissued the 1994 LP. —Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 16 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin seminalis, from semin-, semen seed — more at semen

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing seminal

• seminal duct
• seminal fluid
• seminal vesicle

Medical Definition

seminal

adjective

sem·​i·​nal ˈsem-ən-ᵊl 

: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen

seminal discharge