ordinal numbers

Cultural  

1. Numbers that indicate the order or position of something in a group or set, such as first, second, or fifteenth. (Compare cardinal numbers.)

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Example Sentences

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

A visitor alighting from a distant solar system might make befuddled inquiries regarding our planet’s conception of math, and ordinal numbers, and “losing.”

From Slate • Feb. 3, 2016

Word's stylistic preferences range from the irritating—the superscript "th" on ordinal numbers, the eagerness to forcibly indent any numbered list it detects—to the outright wrong.

From Slate • Apr. 11, 2012

The usual statement is that one, two, three, ... are cardinal numbers, and first, second, third, ... are ordinal numbers.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various

The ordinal numbers arising therefrom do not represent quantities, nor do they represent the only possible type of arrangement, but they are again the simplest of all.

From International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume I Philosophy and Metaphysics by Various