cardinal number

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noun

Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).

Also called potency, power. Mathematics. a number or symbol analogous to the number of elements in a finite set, being identical for two sets that can be placed into one-to-one correspondence: The cardinal number of the set a1, a2, … an is n.

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Origin of cardinal number

First recorded in 1585–95

Words nearby cardinal number

cardinalate, cardinal beetle, cardinalfish, cardinal flower, cardinality, cardinal number, cardinal numbers, cardinal point, cardinal points, cardinals, cardinal sign

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

How to use cardinal number in a sentence

“Our members continue to face a number of challenges,” she said.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of diplomats was pitiful (45 appointees in 1860), as was the amount of money allocated to them.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Jett sees this number as a marker of how much the president allows professionals to do the job.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
There are a number of bacilli, called acid-fast bacilli, which stain in the same way as the tubercle bacillus.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
I do not think the average number of passengers on a corresponding route in our country could be so few as twenty.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for cardinal number

cardinal number

cardinal numeral

noun

a number denoting quantity but not order in a setSometimes shortened to: cardinal

maths logic

a measure of the size of a set that does not take account of the order of its membersCompare natural number
a particular number having this function

Compare ordinal number

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

Scientific definitions for cardinal number

cardinal number

[ kär′dn-əl ]

A number, such as 3, 11, or 412, used in counting to indicate quantity but not order. Compare ordinal number.