seminal

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   strongly influencing later ideas, work, or developments; formative and original

   Her seminal study changed how researchers understood memory.

2. 2
   adj

   relating to, containing, or conveying semen

   The laboratory analyzed a sample of seminal fluid.

3. 3
   adj

   botany: relating to a seed or reproduction by seed

   The cultivated variety rarely preserves the same traits through seminal propagation.

From Middle English seminal and Old French seminal, from Latin seminalis, 'of seed or semen,' based on semen, 'seed.' The figurative sense treats an influential idea or work as a seed from which later developments grow.

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