Definition of "vestigial" []

• Of, relating to, or constituting a vestige. (adjective)
• Biology Occurring or persisting as a rudimentary or degenerate structure. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "These rudimentary legs and pelvises are called vestigial structures; they are relics of the whales' common ancestry with their legged cousins."
• "If we only knew enough, we would, no doubt, discover a beneficial use for all the so-called vestigial organs."
• "For Darwin, the economy of nature had a ready explanation in natural selection, and the non-economical aspects of nature, such as vestigial organs, took on great significance."