ordinal
1 Americanadjective
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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
noun
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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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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
Etymology
Origin of ordinal1
1590–1600; < Late Latin ōrdinālis in order equivalent to Latin ōrdin- (stem of ōrdō ) order + -ālis -al 1
Origin of ordinal2
1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin ōrdināle, noun use of neuter of ōrdinālis in order. See ordinal 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.
There are 25 Helena Drives in Brentwood, each a cul-de-sac preceded by a different ordinal number — 7th, 19th, etc.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2024
The team also noted that drawings showing ordinal representations were more frequently associated with a one-step solution, even if the problem was cardinal.
From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2024
“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 • Mar. 4, 2024
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 • Jan. 24, 2023
Without bias, without assumptions of relative truth or falsity, the anthropologist searches into origins, traces variations, compares and classifies, and relates the several families to one ordinal group.
From Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley With an Intermediate Chapter on the Causes of Arrest of the Movement by Clodd, Edward
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.
