Novel in the earliest stage of development (8)

I believe the answer is:

germinal

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'in the earliest stage of development' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.

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(Other definitions for germinal that I've seen before include "Relating to earliest stages of development" , "Malinger in the earliest stage of development" , "Novel by Zola; in an early stage of development" , "Rudimentary" , "a month after the French Revolution" .)

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