Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or belonging to a particular location or place; local.
- adj. Currently of interest; contemporary.
- adj. Medicine Of or applied to a localized area of the body or to the surface of a body part.
- adj. Medicine Of or relating to a drug applied topically.
- adj. Of, arranged by, or relating to a particular topic or topics.
- n. A topical anesthetic.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to a place or locality; especially, limited to a particular spot; local.
- Specifically, in medicine, pertaining or applied to a particular part of the body; local.
- Pertaining to or proceeding from a topic, or category of arguments; hence, merely probable, as an argument.
- Pertaining to a subject of discourse, composition, or the like; concerned with a particular topic; specifically, dealing with topics of current or local interest.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of current interest; contemporary.
- adj. local to a particular place
- adj. medicine, not comparable Applied to a localized part of the body.
- adj. Arranged according to topic or theme; thematic.
- n. pharmacology A topical anaesthetic.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a place; limited; logical application.
- adj. (Rhet. & logic) Pertaining to, or consisting of, a topic or topics; according to topics.
- adj. Resembling a topic, or general maxim; hence, not demonstrative, but merely probable, as an argument.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to or arranged by topics
- adj. of interest at the present time
- adj. pertaining to the surface of a body part
Etymologies
- From Greek topikos, from topos, place. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You need to associate seemingly different unrelated topics hence the word topical and connect the dots in your mind so that funny words and phrases come rolling off your tongue like sweat off of Martha Stewart’s stockbroker.”
“Anything topical is now a week old, and I'm out of the loop ... or on the outskirts waving frantically.”
“Veterinarians tend to try and use these drugs sparingly and topical use is less damaging, however, long term topical use can cause unhealthy skin conditions to occur.”
The Huffington Post: Dr. Richard Palmquist: Does Your Pet Have Allergies?
“A 2001 study suggested that short-term topical use was free from side effects but provided little relief from menopausal flushing or night sweats.”
The Huffington Post: Can Supplements Ease Menopause Symptoms?
“Benzac (Benzoyl peroxide) topical is used to treat acne.”
“A few sketches and lyrics appeared in topical revues, a few poems were printed in literary magazines.”
“The most profitable studies carried on in libraries are, beyond all question, what we may term topical researches.”
“So topical is it that on its first production King Magnus, the hero, was instantly identified with Marshall Pilsudski of Poland.”
“It didn't occur to me to nominate you under "topical" - that's for blogs who don't fit into other categories.”
“Novels on so-called topical subjects like terrorism and illegal immigrants often feel derivative, mere fictional shadows of the serious issues they aim to tackle.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘topical’.
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Pickle and such
Words that end like pickle. Listed here because they're funny (because they end like pickle).
pickle, sparkle, yokel, tinkle, fickle, prickle, trickle, circle, snorkel, ensnorkel, chuckle, buckle and 137 more...
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POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...21st century, a high level of a..., a long way, a long way to go, a lot to be done, a lot to do, achievement, action, action plan, action team, actual implementa..., advantage and 751 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1856 more...
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hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Magooosh
impugn, repudiate, sardonic, barnstorm, bemoan, unseemly, cornerstone, noisome, malodorous, retroactively, spuriously, spasmodically and 217 more...
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List for Test Day
heresy, reversion, predilection, pedagogy, disparate, virtuous, refurbish, efficaciously, provenance, heckler, amorphous, epitome and 236 more...
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kingrat47's Words
procrustean, devolution, cacophony, hippopotamus, crunch, beware, chortled, sibilant, subtle, undermine, acromegaly, acropolis and 645 more...
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Jacqueline's Words
glittery, horny, amazing, wanderlust, forlorn, lustily, nonchalant, cool, passive, submissive, roundabout, carousel and 558 more...
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likaluca's Words
recursive, genuflect, libidinous, emote, smote, importune, trill, chillax, overshare, shorn, needle, ego and 162 more...
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nfrank's Words
antediluvian, equivocate, inchoate, denouement, effulgent, edify, endemic, palimpsest, apropos, circumnavigate, circumlocution, cognoscente and 484 more...
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Greek Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lethargy, biopsy, enthusiasm, odyssey, synonym, calypso, character, eclectic, chronology, cosmetic, cynical, hypothesis and 128 more...
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verbal velvet
shredded lettuce, cellar, smitten, wassail, nuts, muff, beaver, obligatory, secretions, phlegm, naivete, expectorant and 7 more...
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GRE
desultory, magnanimous, hackneyed, egregious, singular, circumscribed, tacit, topical, apt, revelry, rueful, prevarication and 52 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for topical.
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