VERNAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does vernal mean? 

• VERNAL (adjective)
  The adjective VERNAL has 2 senses:

1. suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh

2. of or characteristic of or occurring in spring

  Familiarity information: VERNAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VERNAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh

Synonyms:

vernal; young; youthful

Context example:

he is young for his age

Similar:

immature; young ((used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or characteristic of or occurring in spring

Context example:

the vernal equinox

Similar:

early-blooming; early-flowering; late-spring-blooming; spring-blooming; spring-flowering (of plants that bloom during the spring)

Antonym:

autumnal (of or characteristic of or occurring in autumn)

summery (belonging to or characteristic of or occurring in summer)

wintry (characteristic of or occurring in winter)

 Context examples 

I have been green, too, Miss Eyre,—ay, grass green: not a more vernal tint freshens you now than once freshened me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is a representative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five or six days.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)