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

Now, it’s finally being offered to a new private collector, alongside an original Sony PlayStation, a copy of seminal PS1 driving game TOCA: Touring Car Championship, and an old Philips flatscreen TV on a stand. —Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

In what will prove to be an iconic fusion of hip-hop and classical music, Nas will join forces with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a one-night-only performance of his seminal debut album Illmatic. —Okla Jones, Essence, 8 Apr. 2025

Forty years after Woodstock, co-creator Michael Lang and author Holly George-Warren wrote the seminal text for the festival. —Meg Zukin, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2025

This priceless theatrical cut of George Lucas's seminal space fantasy (with Han shooting first!) will screen on the opening night of the Film on Film Festival on June 12 at the BFI Southbank center in London. —Jeff Spry, Space.com, 17 Apr. 2025

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

Rhymes for seminal

• trigeminal

Medical Definition

seminal

adjective

sem·​i·​nal ˈsem-ən-ᵊl 

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

seminal discharge