Word.ws English Dictionary

vernal

Syllables: vern·al/ˈvɜːn(ə)l/US/ˈvɝnəl/

vernal adjective: pertaining to or occurring in spring.

vernal: pertaining to or occurring in spring
Image: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

vernal (comparative more vernal, superlative most vernal)

  1. (formal, literary) Pertaining to or occurring in spring.
    • For as a vernall Larke, but lately drest / In her first Downe, abandoning her nest, / Stretchest her pinions, her small force assayes / Flutters, and fals before her flight shee raise, [...]1633, Thomas Bancroft, The Glvttons Feauer, London: Printed by Iohn Norton, for William Cooke, […], →OCLC; quoted in “Bancroft, (Thomas.)—The Glvttons Feauer. […] 1633.”, in Thomas Corser, editor...
    • To my requeſt this anſwer ſhe bequeath'd, / Whiles from her lips the vernall Roſes breath'd; [...]1640, Ovid, “The Fifth Book; Or, May”, in John Gower, transl., edited by Edward Alliston, Ovids Festivalls, or Romaine Calendar, Translated into English Verse Equinumerally, [Cambridge...
    Synonyms:
    springlike, spring-like, springly
  2. (figuratively, formal, literary) Having characteristics like spring; fresh, young, youthful.
    • When after the long vernal day of life, / Enamour'd more, as more remembrance ſwells / With many a proof of recollected love, / Together down they [the seasons] ſink in ſocial ſleep; [...]a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 44, lines 1168–1171
    • Ah me! too ſwiftly fleets our vernal bloom! / Loſt to our wonted friendſhip, loſt to joy! / Soon may thy breaſt the cordial wiſh reſume, / Ere wintry doubt its tender warmth deſtroy.1764, William Shenstone, “Elegy XIII. To a Friend, on Some Slight Occasion Estranged from Him.”, in The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone, Esq; Most of which Were Never before Printed....

Proper noun capitalized: Vernal

Vernal

  1. A city, the county seat of Uintah County, Utah, United States.

vernal meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Sanskrit

vernal in Hindi

vernal, relating to spring
माधव mādhav

vernal in Urdu

بہاری, موسمی, ربیعی, شبابی

vernal in Bengali

vernal
বাসন্তী baśonti

vernal in Sanskrit

vernal; relating to the spring
माधव mā́dhava
More languagesFewer languages
vernal in Sinhala
වසන්ත wasanta
vernal in Persian
بهاری bahâri

Examples of vernal in a sentence

  • Look round: the vernal fields smile with new flowers, / The budding orchard perfumes the soft breeze, / And the green corn waves to the passing gale.1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […]...
  • On we went in this way, mile after mile, over hills and through valleys inundated with a frothing, vernal vegetation and filled with the odour of newly watered ferns in a glasshouse.1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth: Travels in Burma, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; republished London: Readers Union; Jonathan Cape, 1954...
  • Sun up, clear sky, air fresh, all vernal on the first day of May.1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 115:
  • By the fifteenth century, the vernal equinox fell in early April.2015, Brian A. Pavlac, “Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815”, in A Concise Survey of Western Civilization...

Synonyms of vernal

Forms of vernal

comparativemore vernal
superlativemost vernal
alternative formvernall

Origin of vernal

PIE word *wósr̥ From Latin vernālis (“(rare) of or pertaining to spring; vernal”), from vērnus (“of or pertaining to spring; vernal”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). Vērnus is derived from vēr (“season of spring”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”)) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Old French vernal (modern French vernal), Italian vernale (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Occitan vernal, Portuguese vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Spanish vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”).

Words formed from vernal

Phrases with vernal

Words that rhyme with vernal

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about vernal

What does vernal mean?
Vernal means pertaining to or occurring in spring.
What is vernal in Hindi?
Vernal in Hindi is माधव (mādhav). See Vernal meaning in Hindi.
How do you use vernal in a sentence?
Look round: the vernal fields smile with new flowers, / The budding orchard perfumes the soft breeze, / And the green corn waves to the passing gale.
What part of speech is vernal?
Vernal can be an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce vernal?
Vernal is pronounced /ˈvɜːn(ə)l/ (UK).

Words near vernal in the dictionary

  1. vernadite
  2. vernadskite
  3. vernage
  4. vernages
  5. vernakalant
  6. vernal
  7. vernal equinoctial
  8. vernal equinox
  9. vernal equinoxes
  10. vernal grass
  11. vernal grasses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vernal (page history and authors); Vernal (page history and authors); माधव (Hindi) (page history and authors); vernal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); বাসন্তী (Bengali) (page history and authors); माधव (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); වසන්ත (Sinhala) (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-vernal.wav.

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