Word.ws English Dictionary

hesternal

Syllables: hes·tern·al/hɛsˈtɜːnl̩//hɛsˈtɝn(ə)l/

hesternal adjective: of or pertaining to yesterday.

Adjective

hesternal (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, literary, regional) Of or pertaining to yesterday.
    • [A]t laſt, this happy fellow, on a high / Bed laid, and dawbed over with thick ointments, / Extends his rigid heels towards the door; but him / The heſternal Romans, with cover'd head, ſuſtained.1795, Aulus Persius Flaccus, “Satire III”, in M[artin] Madan, transl., A New and Literal Translation of the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus, Dublin: […] John Exshaw, […], →OCLC, page 93
    • But notwithstanding my cupidity for such dainties, I have that happy adaptation of taste which can banquet, with delight, upon hesternal offals; can nibble ignominious radishes, or masticate superannuated mutton.1813, Eaton Stannard Barrett, “Letter X”, in The Heroine, or Adventures of a Fair Romance Reader, … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: […] Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 118–119
    Synonyms:
    hestern

Examples of hesternal in a sentence

  • I rose by candle-light, and consumed, in the intensest application, the hours which every other individual of our party wasted in enervating slumbers, from the hesternal dissipation or debauch.1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XX, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC...
  • The hesternal or 'yesterday', tense differs from the hodiernal in having a tone on the subject prefix.[1965], “A Learner’s Synopsis of Kirundi Structure”, in Earl W[ilson] Stevick, editor, Kirundi: Basic Course […], Washington, D.C.: Foreign...
  • Now that it is clear that hodiernal past, hesternal past and remote past are purely temporal categories, it must be established how exactly they divide the timeline.2008, Mark L. O. Van de Velde, “Tense, Aspect, Mood and Negation”, in A Grammar of Eton (Mouton Grammar Library; 46), Berlin: Mouton de...
  • These are referred to as melodic H patterns. [...] In the simple past and hesternal past (58b) [in Kerewe], H is added to the final vowel, and that H causes deletion of preceding Hs.2015 December, David Odden, “Bantu Phonology”, in Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →DOI, archived...

Synonyms of hesternal

Origin of hesternal

From Latin hesternus (“of or pertaining to yesterday; yesterday’s”) + English -al (suffix forming adjectives).

Words formed from hesternal

Words that rhyme with hesternal

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about hesternal

What does hesternal mean?
Hesternal means of or pertaining to yesterday.
How do you use hesternal in a sentence?
I rose by candle-light, and consumed, in the intensest application, the hours which every other individual of our party wasted in enervating slumbers, from the hesternal dissipation or debauch.
What part of speech is hesternal?
Hesternal is an adjective.
How do you pronounce hesternal?
Hesternal is pronounced /hɛsˈtɜːnl̩/ (UK).

Words near hesternal in the dictionary

  1. Hestenes
  2. Hester
  3. Hesterman
  4. Hestermans
  5. hestern
  6. hesternal
  7. Hesther
  8. Hestia
  9. Heston
  10. hests
  11. Hestur

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hesternal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hesternal.wav, En-us-hesternal.mp3.

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