Vernal
adj, name ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Pertaining to or occurring in spring. formal, literary
"For as a vernall Larke, but lately drest / In her first Downe, abandoning her nest, / Stretchest her pinions, her small force assayes / Flutters, and fals before her flight shee raise, [...]"
- 2 Having characteristics like spring; fresh, young, youthful. figuratively, formal, literary
"When after the long vernal day of life, / Enamour'd more, as more remembrance ſwells / With many a proof of recollected love, / Together down they [the seasons] ſink in ſocial ſleep; [...]"
- 1 of or characteristic of or occurring in spring wordnet
- 2 suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh wordnet
- 1 A city, the county seat of Uintah County, Utah, United States.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"In Japan, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes are national holidays, but the summer and winter solstices are not."
Etymology
PIE word *wósr̥ From Latin vernālis (“(rare) of or pertaining to spring; vernal”), from vērnus (“of or pertaining to spring; vernal”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). Vērnus is derived from vēr (“season of spring”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”)) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Old French vernal (modern French vernal), Italian vernale (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Occitan vernal, Portuguese vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Spanish vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”). Compare typologically German Frühling (< früh), Slovene pomlȃd (< mlȃd).
Related phrases
More for "vernal"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.