seminal

adjective

sem·​i·​nal ˈse-mə-nᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen

seminal discharge

2

: containing or contributing the seeds of later development : creative, original

a seminal book

seminally

ˈse-mə-nᵊl-ē 

adverb

Examples of seminal in a Sentence

Kandel was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2000 for his seminal observation that it was in the action of the synapses between cells that memory existed, not in the cells themselves, and that a molecule called cyclic AMP was what allowed cells to retain memory over the long term. —Michael Greenberg, New York Review of Books, 4 Dec. 2008

Writer Susan Sontag died December 28 at age 71 after a long battle with cancer. She left behind an impressive body of fiction and criticism, including her seminal 1960s essays "Notes on Camp" and "Against Interpretation." —Allan Gurganus, Advocate, 1 Feb. 2005

I wonder if the curators who organized "Matisse Picasso" ever asked themselves why it was that Alfred H. Barr Jr., the first director of the Museum of Modern Art and the guiding spirit behind the museum's seminal exhibitions of both Picasso and Matisse, never mounted a show like the one that has now arrived at MoMA QNS. Such an exhibition might seem to be logical, almost inevitable for the Museum of Modern Art. —Jed Perl, New Republic, 3 Mar. 2003

Recent Examples on the Web

What that mission meant in the case of the S1 LM, was GMSV working with one undisclosed client who wanted to honor automotive maestro Gordon Murray’s seminal McLaren F1. —Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 10 Nov. 2025

With Thornton on lead vocals, the group opened two August shows for The Who during that seminal rock band's final tour. —Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 9 Nov. 2025

As part of a pep talk ahead of an important pitch in Luxembourg, Leslie — who in the Patriot universe wrote a seminal piping textbook called The Integral Principles of the Structural Dynamics of Flow — gathers his team around him. —Claire McNear, Rolling Stone, 8 Nov. 2025

Over his seven-decade career, Jones helped shape modern popular music, producing seminal works by Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Lesley Gore and the Brothers Johnson, among many others. —Xander Zellner, Billboard, 7 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin seminalis, from semin-, semen seed — more at semen

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing seminal

• seminal duct
• seminal fluid
• seminal vesicle

Rhymes for seminal

• trigeminal

Medical Definition

seminal

adjective

sem·​i·​nal ˈsem-ən-ᵊl 

: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen

seminal discharge