Definitions

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

  • adjective Of, indicating, or characterizing a variety, especially a biological variety.
  • noun A wine made principally from one variety of grape and carrying the name of that grape.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In petrography, in the quantitative classification of igneous rocks (see rock), having the character of or producing a variety of a mode.
  • In biology, having the character of a zoölogical or botanical variety; subspecific, or of the character of a subspecies; racial, with reference to geographical variation; of or pertaining to varieties: variational: as, varietal characters; varietal differences or distinctions. See variability, 2. variation, 8, and variety, 6.

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

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a variety; characterizing a variety; constituting a variety, in distinction from an individual or species.

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

  • adjective biology Pertaining to a distinct variety of organism.
  • adjective Made from a single specific variety (especially of grapes in wine).
  • noun A wine made primarily from or exclusively from a single variety of grape, which carries the name of that grape.
  • noun By extension, a coffee made primarily from or exclusively from a single variety of coffee bean.

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

  • noun a wine made principally from one grape and carrying the name of that grape

Etymologies

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

[From variety.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From variety + -al.

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