reticular
|re-tic-u-lar|
🇺🇸
/rɪˈtɪkjələr/
🇬🇧
/rɪˈtɪkjʊlə/
net-like
Etymology
'reticular' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'reticularis' (from 'reticulum'), where 'reticulum' meant 'little net'.
'reticular' changed from the Late Latin/Medieval Latin word 'reticularis' and entered English via Neo-Latin usage, appearing in English texts from the 17th century onward.
Initially it meant 'pertaining to a net' (the literal sense), but over time it evolved into its current senses of 'netlike' and the specialized anatomical/biological sense 'relating to the reticulum or reticular formation'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
resembling or arranged like a net; having a network or mesh-like pattern.
The fungus formed a reticular pattern across the soil surface.
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Adjective 2
relating to a reticulum or the reticular formation (anatomy/physiology); pertaining to a network-like structure within an organism.
Neuroscientists studied the reticular structures in the brainstem involved in arousal.
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Last updated: 2025/11/19 22:38