germane

[jer-meyn] /dʒərˈmeɪn/

adjective

closely or significantly related; relevant; pertinent:

Please keep your statements germane to the issue.

Obsolete. closely related.

Origin

variant of german

Related forms

germanely, adverb

germaneness, noun

nongermane, adjective

ungermane, adjective

Synonyms

1. related, applicable, apposite, appropriate, fitting, apt, suited.

Examples from the web for germane

So an amendment to an amendment must be germane to the latter.
Extras, extras: The pricier edition adds a few germane featurettes.
In fact, the only tax-related subject that's germane to deficit reduction is increases in total tax revenue.
Nor is it germane to the field in which you have expressed an interest.
It is one of the many germane items that have yet to make it into the continuing medical education curricula.
Some facts are simply more germane than others.
These are totally germane questions.
Now back to the information germane to the current topic.
The literary critic, moreover, must consider germane questions that concern the relation of written words to experience.
Given that you are posting this essential data on protocols and such, it does open the research up to some not-so-germane uses.

British Dictionary definitions for germane

germane

/dʒɜːˈmeɪn/

adjective

(postpositive) usually foll by to. related (to the topic being considered); akin; relevant: an idea germane to the conversation

Derived Forms

germanely, adverb
germaneness, noun

Word Origin

variant of german²

Word Origin and History for germane

adj.

mid-14c., "having the same parents," derived from german (adj.); cf. human/humane, urban/urbane. Main modern sense of "closely connected, relevant" (c.1600) derives from use in "Hamlet" Act V, Scene ii: "The phrase would bee more Germaine to the matter: If we could carry Cannon by our sides," which is a figurative use of the word in the now-obsolete sense of "closely related, akin" (late 15c.) in reference to things, not persons.