Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Related to a matter at hand, especially to a subject under discussion. synonym: relevant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Closely akin; german.
  • Hence Bearing a close relation; relevant; pertinent.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Literally, near akin; hence, closely allied; appropriate or fitting; relevant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Related to the topic being discussed or considered.
  • noun inorganic chemistry germanium tetrahydride, GeH4
  • noun organic chemistry, especially in combination Any organic derivative of this compound.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective relevant and appropriate

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English germain, having the same parents, closely connected; see german.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant form of german, adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

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Examples

  • Most germane is its inclusion of uncertainty in any interpretation of reality and the facts.

    ‘Reality’ and ‘the facts’ 2009

  • Most germane is its inclusion of uncertainty in any interpretation of reality and the facts.

    February « 2009 « Sentence first 2009

  • By defining the McCain 'culture war' attacks as 'lies,' the Obama camp deflected those points and stepped immediately into the act of re-stating their opening 'hope' frame in new terms germane to the moment: 'solve real problems'

    Jeffrey Feldman: The Winning Frame has Emerged 2008

  • And there is another part which is certainly not less ridiculous, but being a trade in learning must be called by some name germane to the matter?

    The Sophist 2006

  • Possibly the spirit of the artist is foreign to you, sir, yet perhaps I may put it in terms germane to your own profession.

    Double Star Heinlein, Robert A. 1956

  • Cosmo and Damian were brethren germane, that is of one father and of one mother, and were of the city Egea, and born of a religious mother named

    The Golden Legend, vol. 5 1230-1298 1900

  • But in his whole presentation of God and our relation to him, there was neither thought nor phrase germane to sunrise or sunset, to the firmament or the wind or the grass or the trees; nothing that came to the human soul as having a reality true as that of the world but higher; as holding with the life lived in it, with the hopes and necessities of the heart and mind.

    There & Back George MacDonald 1864

  • Both efforts were thwarted by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who ruled that they were not "germane" to the legislation under consideration.

    Taxpayer-Owned Fannie Mae Attacks Struggling Homeowners 2010

  • Both efforts were thwarted by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who ruled that they were not "germane" to the legislation under consideration.

    Taxpayer-Owned Fannie Mae Attacks Struggling Homeowners 2010

  • "Academic freedom" only protects a professor's speech that is "germane" to the class 'subject.

    Greg Lukianoff: UC Santa Barbara Investigates Professor for Anti-Israel E-Mail 2009

Comments

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  • relevant and appropriate

    The professor wanted to tell the jury in detail about his new book, but the lawyer said it wasn't germane to the charges in the cases.

    October 12, 2016