Contextual

How to spell contextual

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce contextual

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does contextual mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or depending on the surrounding circumstances, setting, or text that give something its meaning.

Contextual in a sentence

• The report lacked the contextual detail needed to judge the figures.

• Good translation relies on contextual clues from the rest of the paragraph.

Where does contextual come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adjective is built on 'context', which English took in the early 1400s from the Latin contextus, meaning 'a joining together' or 'a connected whole'. That noun came from the verb contexere, formed from con- 'together' and texere 'to weave', so the literal sense was of threads woven into a single fabric. The metaphor of weaving words and ideas into a coherent passage gave 'context' its meaning of the surrounding text that frames a word's sense. The same texere 'to weave' root sits inside 'textile', 'texture', and indeed 'text' itself, which is why all of them keep that telltale 'text' spelling. 'Contextual' as an adjective is a later English formation, appearing by the early 1800s, adding the -ual ending to describe anything that depends on or relates to its surrounding circumstances.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• text (from Latin textus: a weaving, a thing woven)
• -ual (adjective-forming suffix)