textual

adj

Etymology: From Middle English textewell, textueel, textuel, textuele, tixtuel (“learned in texts, bookish”), possibly from Latin textuālis; also compare Middle French textuele; or perhaps a coinage by Chaucer from Latin textus and Middle English -el. English spelling conformed to Latin from late 15c. By surface analysis, text + -ual.

1. Of or pertaining to text.

   “On any given Friday night at the Claremont Colleges, between 15 and 20 Jewish students gather to sing wordless melodies, dive into textual study of Talmud or James Baldwin, or hold workshops on antisemitism.”

2. Of or pertaining to text.

   “I see that the editor revised the document's metadata, headers, and images, but I don't see any textual changes.”

3. Pertaining to text messages, by analogy with sexual: textual harassment, textual intercourse; compare sexting.