Residual
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A remainder left over at the end of some process.
- 2 (often plural) a payment that is made to a performer or writer or director of a television show or commercial that is paid for every repeat showing wordnet
- 3 Payments made to performers, writers and directors when a recorded broadcast is repeated. in-plural
"The tentative deal announced this week by the Writers Guild of America includes many industry-specific aspects, such as the size of writers’ rooms and improved residuals for streaming."
- 4 something left after other parts have been taken away wordnet
- 5 The difference between the observed value and the estimated value of the quantity of interest.
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- 6 A spiritual presence left behind in a place as a result of a person's death or some other significant event.
- 1 Of, relating to, or remaining as a residue; left over. not-comparable
"Yet certain films leave a residual memory—such as Psycho: many people still feel uneasy showering in a motel bathroom."
- 1 relating to or indicating a remainder wordnet
Example
More examples"Now clean up any residual dust."
Etymology
Recorded since 1570. From residue, itself borrowed during the Middle English period from Old French residu (Modern French résidu), from Latin residuum (“a remainder”), the neuter inflection of residuus (“remaining, left over”), perfect participle of resideō (“to remain behind”), from re- (“back, again”) + sedeō (“to sit, to reside”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.