adjective
germinal
JUR-muh-nul/ˈdʒɜrmənəl/
Concerned with the beginnings of new development.
The emerging seedling represents a germinal stage of plant development.
Etymology
A germen is a sprout or bud: something at the beginning of its growth. Germinal extends that image to anything still in an early stage of development, including an emerging idea.
In context
let's look go towards the germinal layer it's these cells down in the basal area that are responsible for all the rest of the cells
More examples
- Her notebooks contain the germinal ideas for a new theory.
- The novel exists only in germinal form in these notes.
- Researchers study the germinal stages of organ development.
Forms
germinal
germ noun — An initial form from which something develops.
Similar words
- embryonic
- Emphasizes being undeveloped and not yet fully formed.
- incipient
- Emphasizes the first signs of something beginning to happen.
- nascent
- Emphasizes something newly emerging and beginning to develop.