topical
/ˈtɒp.ɪ.kəl//ˈtɑ.pɪ.kəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
topical adjective: relating to a particular topic or subject.
Adjective
topical (comparative more topical, superlative most topical)
- Relating to a particular topic or subject.
- The book is divided into topical chapters.
- Relating to a topic or subject of current interest.
- Fair trade has become quite a topical issue.
- Local to a particular place.
- Applied to a localized part of the body.
- Antonyms:
- systemic
- Applied externally (to the surface of the skin or eye).
- Terbinafine is available in 250 mg tablets and in a topical 1% ointment. There is no parenteral form available.2003, Peter G. Pappas, “Terbinafine”, in William E. Dismukes, Peter G. Pappas, Jack D. Sobel, editors, Clinical Mycology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 106
- Arranged according to topic or theme; thematic.
Noun
topical (plural topicals)
- A substance, especially a medication, applied externally (to the surface of the skin or eye).
- Small amounts of potent ingredients can, in theory, mean far less skin irritation, as one might get with a one-time high dose of retinol. And with topicals, there is a more uniform delivery of product to the skin’s surface.2012 August 8, Alix Strauss, “Marketing Time in a Bottle Pays Off”, in The New York Times
- "This is a great introductory line to first-time cannabis users because two of the items are topicals, which don't get you high," says Elisabeth, who prides herself and her growers on having a well-balanced and chemical-free strand.2016 March 30, Kate Branch, “Whoopi Goldberg Wants to Cure Your PMS—With Cannabis”, in Glamour
- A topical anaesthetic.
- A joke dealing with current events or topical subjects.
- You can’t do a show at an audience – you have to do a show with an audience and structure the act so that you start with the “hello” gags, then the topicals, then the surreal stuff.2017 November 4, Michael Billington, “Ken Dodd at 90: the rib-tickling genius is still crazy after all these years”, in The Guardian
- A postage stamp depicting a particular theme or subject (such as birds or trains), potentially sought out by topical stamp collectors.
- beautiful Pictorials, topicals, commemoratives, airmails. Introductory selection 40% discount. Ralph Rice, 15 Longlane, West Hartford 7, Conn.1956 December, “Classified Advertisements: Stamp collecting”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 106, number 6, page 57
topical meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
topical in Hindi
- of current interest
- प्रासंगिक prāsaṅgik
topical in Tamil
- தளத்தில், பரப்பில்
topical in Urdu
- موضوعی
topical in Malayalam
- up to date, current, up to the minute
- വിഷയസംബന്ധമായ, തദ്വിഷയ, കാലിക പ്രാധാന്യമുള്ള, ഇന്നു നിലവിലുള്ള, പ്രചാരത്തിലിരിക്കുന്ന, ഏറ്റവും പുതിയ ആവശ്യങ്ങൾക്കനുസൃതമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- topical in Kannada
- ಸಾಮಯಿಕ
- topical in Gujarati
- પ્રસંગોચિત
- topical in Indonesian
- aktual
Examples of topical in a sentence
- The new medical portal has dozens of topical categories containing links to hundreds of sites.
- For candidal vaginitis, various regimens of topical antifungal agents are the mainstay of treatment.
- This encyclopedia includes a topical index.
Antonyms of topical
Forms of topical
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more topical |
| superlative | most topical |
| Noun | |
| plural | topicals |
Origin of topical
From topic + -al.
Words formed from topical
Words that rhyme with topical
- tropical
- extratropical
- microscopical
- subtropical
- Afrotropical
- allotropical
- anthropical
- dystopical
- macroscopical
- misanthropical
- necroscopical
- neotropical
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about topical
- What does topical mean?
- Topical means relating to a particular topic or subject.
- What is topical in Hindi?
- Topical in Hindi is प्रासंगिक (prāsaṅgik). See Topical meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is topical?
- Topical can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce topical?
- Topical is pronounced /ˈtɒp.ɪ.kəl/ (UK).
Words near topical in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: topical (page history and authors); topical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); topical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); topical (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); topical (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); topical (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-topical.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-topical.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Simplificationalizer-topical.wav.
Cite this entry: “topical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/topical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.