textual
adjective
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Before the invention of the printing press, books were produced by hand. When the text of a book is copied this way, textual errors can creep in, and a text that's been copied again and again can contain many such errors. By comparing different copies of a work, textual critics try to figure out where the copyists went wrong and restore the text to its original form so that modern readers can again enjoy the correct versions of ancient texts. When a class performs textual analysis of a poem, however, they are looking closely at its individual words and phrases in an effort to determine the poem's meanings.
Examples of textual in a Sentence
Jack Birle, The Washington Examiner, 6 Oct. 2025
The next significant breakthroughs will be spatial, not textual.
—Alexandre De Vigan, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
This meta-textual dimension is used expertly by Fraser, and something the Actors Branch may be attracted towards.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 7 Sep. 2025
Not just the bookish scavenger hunt, but also the culture of people speaking and thinking in literary allusions and textual analysis.
—Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Textual.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/textual. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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textual
adjective
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