seminal Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective pertaining to or containing or consisting of semen
    • seminal fluid
  2. adjective satellite containing seeds of later development
    originative; germinal.
    • seminal ideas of one discipline can influence the growth of another

WordNet

Sem"i*nal adjective
Etymology
L. seminalis, fr. semen, seminis, seed, akin to serere to sow: cf. F. seminal. See Sow to scatter seed.
Definitions
  1. Pertaining to, containing, or consisting of, seed or semen; as, the seminal fluid.
  2. Contained in seed; holding the relation of seed, source, or first principle; holding the first place in a series of developed results or consequents; germinal; radical; primary; original; as, seminal principles of generation; seminal virtue.
    The idea of God is, beyond all question or comparison, the one great seminal principle. Hare.
Sem"i*nal noun
Definitions
  1. A seed. Obs. Sir T. Browne.

Webster 1913