English Explanatory Dictionary

cardinal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
  2. Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
  3. Describing a “natural” number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
  4. Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal’s cassock).
  5. Being one of the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, associated with initiation, creation, and force.
noun
  1. One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.
  2. Any of various species of New-World passerine songbird in the genus Cardinalis, or in the family Cardinalidae more generally, or of similar appearance and once considered to be related to the former; so called because of their red plumage. (See Wikipedia article for taxonomical information.)
  3. A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)
  4. Ellipsis of cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3). (See Cardinal_number.)
  5. Ellipsis of cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.
  6. Ellipsis of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a flowering plant.
  7. Ellipsis of cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), a freshwater fish.
  8. A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.
  9. Mulled red wine.
noun
  1. A player on the St. Louis Cardinals team.
  2. A player on the Arizona Cardinals team.
  3. A student or player on a sports team at the University of Louisville.
noun
  1. A player on a sports team at Stanford University.
name
  1. A surname from French common among French Canadians as well as Cree and Métis indigenous peoples in Canada.

Pronunciation

/ˈkɑːd(ɪ)nəl/ [ˈkʰɑːd(ɪ)nəl] ~ [ˈkʰɑːd(ɪ)nl̩] en-au-cardinal.ogg /ˈkɑɹd(ɪ)nəl/ [ˈkʰɑɹd(ɪ)nəl] ~ [ˈkʰɑɹd(ɪ)nl̩] en-us-cardinal.ogg

Word forms

cardinal more cardinal most cardinal cardinals

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin cardō Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin cardinālisder. Middle French cardinalbor. English cardinal From Middle French cardinal, from Latin cardinālis (“pertaining to a hinge, hence applied to that on which something turns or depends, important, principal, chief”), from cardin-, cardō (“hinge”) + -ālis, adjectival suffix.

Synonyms

cardinalid

Related words

Contrast with ordinal Card

Derived words

anticardinal cardinal adjective cardinalate cardinal beetle cardinal bird cardinal bishop cardinal concern cardinal fish cardinalfish cardinal flower cardinal gem cardinalhood cardinalic cardinalin cardinalitial cardinality cardinalize cardinally cardinal mark cardinal nephew cardinal-nephew cardinal number cardinal numeral cardinal point cardinal rule cardinalship cardinal sin cardinal spider cardinal symptom cardinal variable cardinal vein cardinal virtue cardinal virtues cardinal vowel cardinal vowels College of Cardinals incardinate intercardinal intersubcardinal large cardinal limit cardinal noncardinal northern cardinal postcardinal pseudocardinal red cardinal red cardinal flower subcardinal supracardinal uncardinal weakly cardinal
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