Origin: Latin suffix -al
Tutorial has 4 different meanings across 2 categories:
a session of intensive tuition given by a tutor to an individual or to a small number of students
"After struggling with calculus in large lectures, Sarah enrolled in a private tutorial where her tutor focused exclusively on the concepts she found most difficult."
A self-paced learning exercise; a lesson prepared so that a student can learn at their own speed, at their convenience.
"I finally finished the coding tutorial last night because it let me pause whenever I got stuck on a tricky concept."
In plain English: A tutorial is a short lesson designed to teach you how to use something or do a specific task.
"The online tutorial helped me learn how to edit videos quickly."
Of or pertaining to a tutor; belonging to, or exercised by, a tutor.
"The student appreciated that the tutorial session was entirely conducted by her private tutor rather than an automated program."
In plain English: A tutorial is something that helps you learn how to do or use a specific thing by showing you step-by-step instructions.
"The tutorial video helped me learn how to fix the printer quickly."
Usage: Use this adjective only when describing something specifically designed for instruction under the direct guidance of a private teacher, rather than general self-study materials. It is often confused with "instructional," but implies a more personalized and interactive learning process led by an individual mentor.
The word tutorial comes from the Latin tutor, meaning "protector" or "defender," which originally referred to a guardian rather than an instructor. It entered English through the related term tutor before being adapted with the suffix -ial to describe instructional guidance.