seminal
adjective
sem·i·nal
ˈse-mə-nᵊl 
1
: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen
seminal discharge
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
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
If local sheriffs couldn’t be forced to do federal background checks for gun purchasers, as a seminal Supreme Court case held, local police and jails should not be forced to hold people on federal immigration detainers.
—Peter L. Markowitz, New York Daily News, 22 Jan. 2025
Hartman is the author of several seminal works of cultural and historical criticism such as Scenes of Subjection and Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments.
—Zac Ntim, Deadline, 22 Jan. 2025
The Great Comic Book Heroes is today considered the seminal example of comics scholarship, and Feiffer lending his ascendent cultural clout helped to dignify the art form, laying the groundwork for its later growth and development.
—Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
The seminal Supreme Court case on this point, In re Neagle (1890), arose from a truly wild set of facts.
—Ian Millhiser, Vox, 20 Jan. 2025
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Peter L. Markowitz, New York Daily News, 22 Jan. 2025
Hartman is the author of several seminal works of cultural and historical criticism such as Scenes of Subjection and Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments.
—Zac Ntim, Deadline, 22 Jan. 2025
The Great Comic Book Heroes is today considered the seminal example of comics scholarship, and Feiffer lending his ascendent cultural clout helped to dignify the art form, laying the groundwork for its later growth and development.
—Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
The seminal Supreme Court case on this point, In re Neagle (1890), arose from a truly wild set of facts.
—Ian Millhiser, Vox, 20 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for seminal
Dictionary Entries Near seminal
Cite this Entry
“Seminal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seminal. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
seminal
adjective
sem·i·nal
ˈsem-ən-ᵊl
: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen
seminal discharge
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