Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or having the nature of a germ cell.
- adjective Of, relating to, or occurring in the earliest stage of development.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The seventh month of the French revolutionary calendar. It commenced (in 1794) March 21st and ended April 19th.
- Pertaining to or constituting a germ; of the nature of a germ or of germination; germinative: as, germinal; vesicles; germinal ideas or principles.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Pertaining or belonging to a germ.
- adjective (Biol.) Of or pertaining to the germ, or germ cells, as distinguished from the somatic cells.
- adjective (Biol.) the two layers of cells, the ectoblast and entoblast, which form respectively the outer covering and inner wall of the gastrula. A third layer of cells, the mesoblast, which is formed later and lies between these two, is sometimes included.
- adjective (Biol.) Same as
Blastoderm . - adjective (Biol.) the nucleolus of the ovum.
- adjective (Biol.) , the nucleus of the ovum of animals.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Pertaining or belonging to a
germ . - adjective figuratively Of or pertaining to something very small, as
small as agerm ; pertaining to the essence of something.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective containing seeds of later development
- noun seventh month of the Revolutionary calendar (March and April); the month of buds
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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But no sooner has one written the word germinal than one begins to experience the desire to peep ahead at the ending or, rather, to look in the beginnings for symptoms of the terminus.
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But no sooner has one written the word germinal than one begins to experience the desire to peep ahead at the ending or, rather, to look in the beginnings for symptoms of the terminus.
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But no sooner has one written the word germinal than one begins to experience the desire to peep ahead at the ending or, rather, to look in the beginnings for symptoms of the terminus.
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This yolk contains a germinal vesicle in which can be discovered a nucleus, called the germinal spot.
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This yolk contains a germinal vesicle in which can be discovered a nucleus, called the germinal spot.
Searchlights on Health The Science of Eugenics B. G. Jefferis
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With this conviction I attempted, as far back as 1894, when the idea of germinal selection had not yet occurred to me, to make "harmonious adaptation" (coadaptation) more easily intelligible in some way or other, and so I was led to the idea, which was subsequently expounded in detail by Baldwin, and Lloyd Morgan, and also by Osborn, and Gulick as _Organic Selection_.
Evolution in Modern Thought Gustav Schwalbe 1880
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[266] This feeling for the tribal life may be called germinal public spirit.
Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV Crawford Howell Toy 1877
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Sometimes it has been called the germinal disk, sometimes the germinal spot, and usually the germinative area.
The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876
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This layer of cells is called the germinal membrane (or blastoderm); the homogeneous cells which compose its simple structure are called blastodermic cells; and the whole hollow sphere, the walls of which are made of the preceding, is called the blastula or blastosphere.
The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876
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Its tread is composed of several cells, and is now commonly called the germinal disc.
The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876
stuartmathergibson commented on the word germinal
Germinal
Of, relating to, or occurring in the earliest stage of development
November 30, 2021