vestigial

adjective

ves·ti·gial ve-ˈsti-jē-əl

-jəl

of a body part or organ : remaining in a form that is small or imperfectly developed and not able to function : being or having the form of a vestige (see vestige sense 2)

a vestigial tail

Kiwis lack an external tail, and their vestigial wings are entirely hidden beneath a curious plumage—shaggy, more like fur than feathers …—

Stephen Jay Gould

: remaining as the last small part of something that existed before

It's held in the Gold Room, a vestigial ballroom of the kind that every downtown hotel uses for banquets and conventions.—

William Zinsser

Later colonial laws … prohibited even speaking the Pequot language, now long dead but for a few vestigial words.—

Kirk Johnson

vestigially

ve-ˈsti-jē-ə-lē

-jə-lē

adverb

Examples of vestigial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Some readers already agreed with them; others had a vestigial commitment that was just beginning to loosen. —

Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024 Language is both rule and deviation, langue and parole, but the rule retains a vestigial presence in every deviation. —

Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2024 Hun Sen has constructed an implausible composite regime, a kind of political chimera, that is part vestigial communism, part crony capitalism, part neofeudal paternalism, and part divine-right monarchism. —

Stéphanie Giry, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2015 For the show, Charli opted for a departure from her usual fashion show looks, switching up her go-to denim and furs for a black button-down halter shirtdress with vestigial sleeves, worn with suede pantaboots and, of course, her beloved impenetrable black sunglasses. —

Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 26 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for vestigial