Word.ws English Dictionary

pedestrial

pedestrial adjective: of or pertaining to the feet or walking; using or for use by the foot or feet.

Adjective

pedestrial (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to the feet or walking; using or for use by the foot or feet.
    • Having now so amply declared unto thee most of the principal things of this thrice-renowned and illustrious city, I will briefly by way of an epitome mention most of the other particulars thereof, and so finally shut up this narration: there are reported to be in Venice and the circumjacent islands...1611, Thomas Coryate, Coryat's Crudities hastily gobbled up in Five Months Travels in France, Italy, &c
    • The curtains were closely drawn round the bed, but two bony, spindle shanks, terminating in a pedestrial form, protruded from beneath the drapery, an indication that the meagre little figure of the old lady was about to descend to the floor.1866, Mary Ann Fisher, A Spinster's Story, page 182
  2. Unenthusiastic; tepid.
    • But it is also an interesting contribution to the technical literature about Dewey, for it is no pedestrial summary of the views about to be presented in extenso in the text, but a vigorous and enthusiastic exposition and defense of the thesis: "With respect to some specific problems, alternative...1941, Jacob Gould Schurman, James Edwin Creighton, Frank Thilly, The Philosophical Review - Volume 50, page 83
    • For a government which contemplated Ethiopia's "blow up" for at least some ten years and had put a high premium on maintaining "good relations with the Emperor," Washington's pedestrial reaction to the fall of Haile Sellassie shows, among other things, how untroubled it was by the revolutionary...1981, Northeast African Studies - Volume 3, page 17
  3. Unoriginal and unexciting; pedestrian; tiresome.
    • 'Imperial idol!' 'bent the knee!' damn it, my dear fellow, writing vaudevilles has ruined your style; you can't come down to pedestrial prose.1895, Honoré de Balzac, The Human Comedy
    • This one a pedestrial Western1966, Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life, page 65

Noun

pedestrial (plural pedestrials)

  1. (plural-normally) Foot.
    • The benches on which pupils sit at these desks , as well as all benches in such houses are high and backless , consequently no soundings for feet, so that we see a swinging of pedestrials at once ridiculous and painful to behold.1857, Pennsylvania. Department of Public Instruction, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, page 122
    • Gathering myself on my pedestrials as quick as possible, I beheld our favorite old pet sow retreating in an opposite direction.1858, Yankee-notions - Volume 7, page 322
  2. Pedestrian; person traveling on foot.
    • The duty which drivers of motor vehicles owe to pedestrials at street crossings is one which should be deeply impressed upon all drivers of automobiles and other motor vehicles in this state, if need be, by a strict, vigorous, enforcement of the law.1930, Alexander Contee Magruder, Oliver Miller, Maryland Reports, Containing Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of Maryland; Volume 159, page 113
    • Rating scales for drivers may be obtained, and safety and courtesy as practiced by cyclists and pedestrials discussed.1946, Cincinnati Public Schools. Department of Instruction, Physiology and Health, page 38
  3. A pedestal or short column.
    • They also manufacture all kinds of Marble work, as Mantles, Centre and Pier Tops, Counters, Facings, Hearths, Soda Founts, Urns, Pedestrials, etc., and give early and careful attention also to all orders for Monuments, Tombs and Head Stones, which they make in best style.1847, United States. Works Administration, Ohio, Annals of Cleveland--1818-1935, page 108
    • As a way of minimising the costs of replacing the destroyed signposts, the system of using signposts was discontinued and Stone pedestrials were erected.1974, Tanzania Antiquities Department, Annual Report of the Antiquities Department, page 8

Examples of pedestrial in a sentence

  • Pedestrial and vehicular traffic were almost completely separated ( Figure 4 ) .1969, Attempts to Control Urbanization, page 24:
  • He opened by stating that “'Miss Liberty' is a disappointing musical comedy . . . put together without sparkle or originality.” He calls the book “a pedestrial tale” and the score “not one of Mr.2015, William A. Everett, Paul R. Laird, Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical, page 227:
  • He is in love with one of those dreamy-eyed, perky, lovable misses who wear elevator heels and who seem to caress the foot path with their dainty pedestrials when they sweep past Marshall Field's.1904 July 21, “Audacities”, in The Club-fellow: The Society Journal of New York and Chicago, volume 6, number 2, page 11:
  • Very rarely does a man get a new set of personal pedestrials, he said.2014, Brian Doyle, The Plover, page 265:

Forms of pedestrial

pluralpedestrials

Origin of pedestrial

From Latin pedester, -esteris, from pes, pedis (“a foot”). Compare French pédestere. See pedal and pedestrian.

Words formed from pedestrial

Questions about pedestrial

What does pedestrial mean?
Pedestrial means of or pertaining to the feet or walking; using or for use by the foot or feet.
How do you use pedestrial in a sentence?
Pedestrial and vehicular traffic were almost completely separated ( Figure 4 ) .
What part of speech is pedestrial?
Pedestrial can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near pedestrial in the dictionary

  1. pedestalizing
  2. pedestalled
  3. pedestalling
  4. pedestals
  5. pedestral
  6. pedestrial
  7. pedestrially
  8. pedestrian
  9. pedestrian bridge
  10. pedestrian bridges
  11. pedestrian crossing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pedestrial (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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Cite this entry: “pedestrial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pedestrial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.