segmentaladj.
/sɛɡˈmɛntəl/ 1.
a. Having the form of a segment (or, loosely, of an arc) of a circle.
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1837 Fraser's Mag. 16 151 Giving its point a segmental sweep from Penlee Point..to the Mew-stone.
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports ii. i. viii. §5. 346/1 This segmental form is better than the straight bit.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl.N 1 A segmental bevel wheel.
b. Architecture. Of an arch, a pediment, window-head, etc. Hence segmental-arched, segmental-headed adjs.
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the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [adjective] > two-dimensional > of or resembling part of circle
quadrantal1674
quadrantile1721
segmental1815
segmentary1853
quadrantic1856
1815 T. Rickman in J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 131 A segmental arch has its centre lower than the spring.
1849 E. A. Freeman Hist. Archit. 350 The segmental arch..is both more horizontal and less elegant than the four-centred.
1851 E. A. Freeman Window Tracery 253 Of Segmental-Headed Windows.
1851 E. A. Freeman Window Tracery 254 By a segmental head I of course understand one in which the centre (or centres) is very much below the line of the constructive impost.
1851 E. A. Freeman Window Tracery 255 Segmental windows filled with Reticulated tracery.
1867 A. Barry Life & Wks. Sir C. Barry iii. 84 Angular and segmental pediments.
1867 Church News 31 July 327/2 A small chamber with a segmental arched vault.
2.
a. Of, pertaining to, or composed of segments or divisions. In various applications (Anatomy, Biology, Acoustics, etc.). segmental apparatus, the brain-stem of a vertebrate.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [adjective] > segmented
insecta1658
zoonite1838
segmental1854
segmented1854
zoonitic1860
segmentate1875
metamerized1878
somatomic1882
somitic1888
somital1890
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [adjective] > relating to or composed of divisions
divisional1846
segmental1854
compartmental1859
segmentary1898
sectoral1969
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > action of dividing or divided condition > [adjective] > divided > divided into segments
insected1647
segmental1854
segmented1854
segmentate1875
segmentary1898
1854 R. Owen Struct. Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature I. 172 Giving the first indication of the segmental character of the skeleton.
1856 T. Williams in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) (1859) 148 93 Under the appellation of the ‘segmental organ’, accordingly, it is proposed to describe that viscus upon the basis of which..are always ingrafted the true generative structures [in Annelids].
1872 J. D. Everett Deschanel's Elem. Treat. Nat. Philos. IV. Index 1067/3 Segmental vibration, 832.
1879 F. M. Balfour in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XIX. 8 The first part of the urino-genital system to develop is the segmental duct (Vornieregang of Fürbringer), which is formed by a groove~like invagination of the peritoneal epithelium.
1888 T. H. Huxley & H. N. Martin Course Elem. Biol. i. 169 The prorenal (segmental) duct.
1888 T. H. Huxley & H. N. Martin Course Elem. Biol. iii. 244 These [excretory] organs, being thus segmentally arranged, are termed segmental organs or nephridia.
1898 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Segmental organ, an organ consisting of a primitive epithelium-lined tubule opening at one end on the body-surface, and at the other into the cœlom or body-cavity. It is the type of the primitive kidneys.
1917 Jrnl. Compar. Neurol. 28 216 It is becoming increasingly evident that the key to this difficult question is to be sought in the subcortical centers of the primitive types, that is, in the ‘old brain’ (palaeencephalon of Edinger, segmental apparatus of Adolf Meyer).
1974 D. Webster & M. Webster Compar. Vertebr. Morphol. xi. 240 Segmentation in the developing brain is neither as regular nor as apparent as it is in the spinal cord. However, during early development (at least), segmentation can be determined in the basal portion, which is, therefore, known as the ‘segmental apparatus’.
b. Pathology. Characterized by segmentation or division into segments.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of nervous system > [adjective] > segmental
segmental1896
1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 189 Segmental degeneration of the nerves.
c. Linguistics. Of, pertaining to, or designating the division of speech or (less commonly) text into segments (cf. segment n. 4c). Frequently in segmental phoneme, a consonant or vowel phoneme, which can occur as one of the units in a sequence of such phonemes.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [adjective] > phoneme, allophone, etc. > segmental
intrasegmental1909
segmentative1936
segmental1938
prosodemic1946
phonematic1949
1938 B. L. Whorf Lang. Thought & Reality (1964) 126 Timbre phonemics (segmental): Table of phonemes. Pattern congruity. Allophones or probitional variants. Allophonic constellation.
1942 C. F. Hockett in Language 18 8 Features..which clearly extend over a series of several segmental groupings are suprasegmental.
1950 R. A. Hall in Language XXVI. 12 Forty-seven segmental phonemes is not an excessive number to posit for a language.
1958 Eng. Stud. 39 104 The segmental sounds are almost exclusively transferred from indigenous languages of the area.
1966 Amer. Speech 41 225 Pitch levels are not always suprasegmental features. When they are short enough, they can be considered one of the distinctive features of a segmental phoneme.
1976 Word 27 57 The speech rhythms and patterns and intonations of the pregnant mother will [not] generate..‘segmental phonemes’, or anything so phonetically sophisticated relatedly.
1981 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 26 74 The initial portions of the word have the same segmental values and the same relative prominence as the base word.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1815