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“The sun’s coming soon. / A future, then, of warmth and runoff, / and old faces surprised to see us. / A cache of love, I’d call it, / opened up, vernal, refreshed.” These are the closing lines of the poem “Runoff” by Sidney Burris, and even if you don’t (yet) know the word vernal, you can probably divine its meaning from context. The sun’s arrival? Melting snow and ice? Optimism? It all sure sounds like spring, the muse of many a poet and the essence of vernal, an adjective that describes all things related to the season. While the sun has been crossing the equator since time immemorial, producing a vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere in late March and in the southern hemisphere in late September, the word vernal has only been in use in English since the early 16th century, when it blossomed from the Latin adjective vernālis. That word in turn traces back to the noun vēr, meaning “spring.”
Examples of vernal in a Sentence
Ajit Giani, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
The date is different every year and falls on the first Sunday of the first full moon after the vernal equinox, also called the Paschal Full Moon.
—Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
Just like the solstice, there are two equinoxes — the vernal (first day of spring) and the autumnal (first day of fall).
—John Tufts, Louisville Courier Journal, 20 June 2025
The spring or vernal equinox occurs between March 19-21, the June solstice June 20 and 22, the September equinox September 21-24 and the December solstice is December 20-23, according to Timeanddate.com.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for vernal
Cite this Entry
“Vernal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernal. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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vernal
adjective
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