Did you know?
“The sun’s coming soon. / A future, then, of warmth and runoff, / and old faces surprised to see us. / A cache of love, I’d call it, / opened up, vernal, refreshed.” These are the closing lines of the poem “Runoff” by Sidney Burris, and even if you don’t (yet) know the word vernal, you can probably divine its meaning from context. The sun’s arrival? Melting snow and ice? Optimism? It all sure sounds like spring, the muse of many a poet and the essence of vernal, an adjective that describes all things related to the season. While the sun has been crossing the equator since time immemorial, producing a vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere in late March and in the southern hemisphere in late September, the word vernal has only been in use in English since the early 16th century, when it blossomed from the Latin adjective vernālis. That word in turn traces back to the noun vēr, meaning “spring.”
Examples of vernal in a Sentence
Skylar Knight, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2025
Easter is typically celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, occurring on or after the vernal, or spring, equinox.
—Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 20 Apr. 2025
Northern Lights displays are possible on Thursday, March 20, according to a NASA model, partly because of that day’s vernal equinox.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
The vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
—Hannah Poukish, Sacramento Bee, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vernal
Cite this Entry
“Vernal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernal. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
vernal
adjective
Share