Vestigial Structures Whales

Dec 4, 2016the meaning of vestigial is remaining in a form that is small or imperfectly developed and not able to function : How to use vestigial in a sentence. Vestigial structures are often called vestigial organs, although many of them are not actually organs.

Such vestigial structures typically are degenerate, atrophied, or rudimentary, [3] and tend to be much. Of little or less importance (definition of vestigial from the cambridge advanced learner's dictionary & thesaurus © cambridge university press) Vestigial is used to describe the small amounts of something that still remain of a larger or more important thing.

Definition of vestigial adjective in oxford advanced learner's dictionary. (biology) (of certain organs or parts of organisms) having attained a simple structure and reduced size and function during the evolution of the species: The vestigial pelvic girdle of a snake.

Vestigial is an adjective form of the noun vestige, meaning something left over from a previous version. Vestigial is used in science to describe structures like animal organs, tissues, or bones that may. Dec 24, 2025vestigial (plural vestigials) (evolutionary theory) a small, degenerate, or imperfectly developed part or organ which has been more fully developed in some past generation.

Vestigial describes an organ or body part that continues to exist without retaining its original function, such as our appendix. The adjective vestigial derives from the latin word vestigium, meaning.