vestigial
adjective
ves·ti·gial
| \ ve-ˈsti-jē-əl
, -jəl\
, -jəl\
Definition of vestigial
1
of a body part or organ
: remaining in a form that is small or imperfectly developed and not able to function : being or having the form of a vestige (see vestige sense 2)
a vestigial tail Kiwis lack an external tail, and their vestigial wings are entirely hidden beneath a curious plumage—shaggy, more like fur than feathers …— Stephen Jay Gould
2
: remaining as the last small part of something that existed before
It's held in the Gold Room, a vestigial ballroom of the kind that every downtown hotel uses for banquets and conventions.— William Zinsser Later colonial laws … prohibited even speaking the Pequot language, now long dead but for a few vestigial words.— Kirk Johnson
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Other Words from vestigial
vestigially
\ ve-ˈsti-jē-ə-lē
, -jə-lē \
adverb
, -jə-lē \
adverb
Examples of vestigial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Less promoted but nonetheless implicit was the end of a way of a life, albeit a vestigial one. — Los Angeles Times, "Newsletter: The uncertain fate of the San Fernando Valley’s last remaining commercial citrus grove," 16 Aug. 2019 The Alliance for Audited Media now estimates that the average circulation of the vestigial biweekly is 16,195. — Eric Zorn, chicagotribune.com, "Column: 10 years later, the death of its daily newspaper still haunts my hometown," 19 July 2019 And the TWA Hotel still conveys that dormant, vestigial longing for better things. — Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, "The TWA Hotel revives a magnificent, mid-century vision of the friendly skies," 12 June 2019 This is the office of the Committee for the Five Northern Provinces, South Korea’s vestigial bureaucracy for North Korea, over which the South claims jurisdiction. — The Economist, "The South Korean bureaucrats who pretend to run North Korea," 8 June 2019 Now, crashing into the consciousness of the whole country, is the realization that other forces have been at work here, the narratives of bigotry that many of us assumed were vestigial relics of a shameful past. — Michael Bradley, National Geographic, "‘This isn’t us? Oh but it is.’ New Zealand grapples with its history," 19 Mar. 2019 Majestic old houses of worship have only vestigial congregations. — WSJ, "What to Do With Empty Churches," 31 Jan. 2019 Everything in Dorothy’s life is vestigial, most oppressively the title Mrs. Caliban, after the sudden deaths of her two children. — Vox Staff, Vox, "The most thought-provoking books the Vox staff read in 2018," 21 Dec. 2018 Now, the Kinect itself is a largely vestigial part of the Xbox One package, requiring a special USB adapter on new models of the system. — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, "Feature erosion watch: Xbox One loses broadcast TV streaming," 5 Nov. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vestigial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for vestigial
vestigial
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of vestigial
technical, of a body part
: remaining in a form that is not fully developed or able to function
formal
: remaining as the last small part of something that existed before
See the full definition for vestigial in the English Language Learners Dictionary
vestigial
adjective
ves·ti·gial
| \ ve-ˈsti-jē-əl, -ˈsti-jəl\
Kids Definition of vestigial
: of, relating to, or being the last remaining amount or visible sign of something lost or vanished
vestigial
adjective
ves·tig·ial
| \ ve-ˈstij-(ē-)əl
\
\
Medical Definition of vestigial
: of, relating to, or being a vestige
a vestigial structure
Other Words from vestigial
vestigially
\ -Ä“
\
adverb
\
adverb