seminal.

1. Introducing ideas or achievements that strongly influence later developments.

2. Relating to semen or structures involved in producing it.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• seminal paper
• seminal study

On the page

The seminal paper established questions still debated today.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, evaluation, qualification. Commonness: moderately common.