Glandular
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A food supplement made from glands.
"Then Mr. Rothschild states that there is a wealth of studies attesting to the beneficence of glandulars in the human diet, only to fall into the same error he lays on Dr. Holub: failing to cite a single one."
- 1 Pertaining to a gland or glands. not-comparable
"a glandular disorder"
- 2 Pertaining to a gland or glands.; Having the characteristics or function of a gland. not-comparable
- 3 Innate, inherent. not-comparable
"[…]the almost glandular Russian instinct for adventure and romance."
- 4 Physical, sexual. not-comparable
- 1 relating to or affecting or functioning as a gland wordnet
Example
More examples"Inwardly the Second Men differed from the earlier species in that they had shed most of those primitive relics which had hampered the First Men more than was realized. Not only were they free of appendix, tonsils and other useless excrescences, but also their whole structure was more firmly knit into unity. Their chemical organization was such that their tissues were kept in better repair. Their teeth, though proportionately small and few, were almost completely immune from caries. Such was their glandular equipment that puberty did not begin till twenty; and not till they were fifty did they reach maturity. At about one hundred and ninety their powers began to fail, and after a few years of contemplative retirement they almost invariably died before true senility could begin."
Etymology
Mid 18th century borrowing from French glandulaire, from glandule (“small gland”) + -aire (“-ar, -ary”, adjectival suffix), from Latin glandulae (“glands of the throat”); equivalent to glandule + -ar.
Related phrases
More for "glandular"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.