canonical

[ kuh-non-i-kuhl ]

/ kəˈnɒn ɪ kəl /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for canonical on Thesaurus.com

adjective Also ca·non·ic.

pertaining to, established by, or conforming to a canon or canons.

included in the canon of the Bible.

authorized; recognized; accepted: canonical works.

Mathematics. (of an equation, coordinate, etc.) in simplest or standard form.

following the pattern of a musical canon.

Linguistics. (of a form or pattern) characteristic, general or basic: the canonical form of the past tense; a canonical syllable pattern.

noun

canonicals, garments prescribed by canon law for clergy when officiating.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of canonical

1150–1200; Middle English (<Anglo-French ) <Medieval Latin canōnicālis, equivalent to canōnic(us) (see canon²) + -ālis-al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM canonical

ca·non·i·cal·ly, adverbsu·per·ca·non·i·cal, adjective

Words nearby canonical

canola oil, canon, Canonchet, Canon City, canoness, canonical, canonical age, canonical hour, canonicals, canonicate, canonicity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use canonical in a sentence

You can then implement 301 redirects, canonical or noindex tags on the pages that have become redundant to consolidate ranking signals.
How content consolidation can help boost your rankings|George Nguyen|September 10, 2020|Search Engine Land
When content migration is done, Google has to recrawl new URLs, along with all of their accompanying signals, such as backlinks and canonicals, in order to rank what effectively becomes brand new landing pages.
SEO horror stories: Here’s what not to do|Kaspar Szymanski|August 24, 2020|Search Engine Land
“You do not need to create separate content for each canonical or stemming version of a word unless it shifts the meaning of the word substantially,” Christi said.
Why machine learning and understanding searcher intent is so important to search|Barry Schwartz|August 18, 2020|Search Engine Land
Also both show the canonical URL, but Google shows the Google selected canonical versus the user-declared canonical.
Bing’s new URL Inspection tool: What it does and why to use it|Barry Schwartz|July 30, 2020|Search Engine Land

In addition, use title tags, meta description tags, header tags, customized URLs, and canonical tags to master the art of on-page SEO.
What Google says about nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links in 2020: Does it affect your SEO rankings?|Joseph Dyson|July 24, 2020|Search Engine Watch
According to Haselberger, the archdiocese ignored not only blatant secular crimes, but obvious canonical crimes as well.
How Sicko Priests Got Away With It|Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“This is not a judgment of guilt, nor is it a suspension of any other canonical penalty,” Canary wrote.
Chicago Priests Raped and Pillaged for 50 Years|Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We can see evidence of its presence even in the communities of the authors who produced our canonical Gospels.
Do We Know if There Was Really An Empty Tomb?|Bart D. Ehrman|April 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I write as much out of identifying with those books as I do with the frontline canonical stuff.
How I Write: Jonathan Lethem|Noah Charney|September 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Lots of things that now seem canonical would not have been accessible to Leonardo, who was not that proficient in Latin.
Anthony Grafton: How I Write|Noah Charney|July 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
We cannot wonder at the difficulty of obtaining canonical election for Loftus.
Ireland Under the Tudors, Vol. II (of 3)|Richard Bagwell
But all the commentators were united against any such course; and the canonical text authorized the rendering to which I objected.
My Religion|Leo Tolstoy
Whether beneficed students on account of their studies are excused from reading their canonical hours.
The Age of Erasmus|P. S. Allen
Fashion is always irresistible when there is no law to the contrary, and canonical hours are ignored in this country.
Thirty Years in Australia|Ada Cambridge
The renewed energy of the church was manifested by councils, canonical legislation and books of sermons.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 4|Various

British Dictionary definitions for canonical

canonical

canonic

/ (kəˈnɒnɪkəl) /

adjective

belonging to or included in a canon of sacred or other officially recognized writings

belonging to or in conformity with canon law

according to recognized law; accepted

music in the form of a canon

of or relating to a cathedral chapter

of or relating to a canon (clergyman)

Derived forms of canonical

canonically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

canonical

Origin of canonical

OTHER WORDS FROM canonical

Words nearby canonical

Words related to canonical

How to use canonical in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for canonical

canonic

Derived forms of canonical