ordinal
1 Americannoun
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a directory of ecclesiastical services.
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a book containing the forms for the ordination of priests, consecration of bishops, etc.
adjective
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of or relating to an order, as of animals or plants.
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of or relating to order, rank, or position in a series.
noun
adjective
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denoting a certain position in a sequence of numbers
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of, relating to, or characteristic of an order in biological classification
noun
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short for ordinal number
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a book containing the forms of services for the ordination of ministers
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RC Church a service book
Other Word Forms
- ordinally adverb
Etymology
Origin of ordinal1
1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin ōrdināle, noun use of neuter of ōrdinālis in order. See ordinal 1
Origin of ordinal1
1590–1600; < Late Latin ōrdinālis in order equivalent to Latin ōrdin- (stem of ōrdō ) order + -ālis -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The contexts of some problems called on the cardinal properties of numbers -- the quantity of elements in a set -- others on their ordinal properties -- their position in an ordered list.
From Science Daily
“The only way a person could determine an elector’s ordinal position is by personally observing that elector cast his or her ballot.”
From Seattle Times
The assumption is that something of the essence of institutions, public or private, small or large, religious or not, can be distilled by crunching data and assembling lists with ordinal numbers.
From Washington Post
In other words, Mr. Forman invited applicants to observe, collect and then make ordinal sense of exactly the same jungle of information the U.S.
From Washington Post
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were doornail and ordinal.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
