vestigial

adjective

ves·​ti·​gial ve-ˈsti-jē-əl 

-jəl

1

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

2

: 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

Existing, vestigial structures must be safely dismantled. —Thomas Drance, New York Times, 23 June 2026

The issue, however, is that the findings from 2020 study complicate the vestigial narrative. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2026

More than 100 vestigial anomalies occur in humans. —Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026

Büchi approaches classical music not like an embalmer with a corpse but as a surgeon with a patient, taking a scalpel to the vestigial organs. —Walden Green, Pitchfork, 13 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin vestigium + English -al entry 1

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

vestigial

adjective

ves·​tig·​ial ve-ˈstij-(ē-)əl 

: of, relating to, or being a vestige

a vestigial structure

vestigially

-ē 

adverb