cardinal (adj.)

  1. being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order; cardinal numbers'

    cardinal (n.)

  1. (Roman Catholic Church) one of a group of more than 100 prominent bishops in the Sacred College who advise the Pope and elect new Popes

  2. the number of elements in a mathematical set; denotes a quantity but not the order

    [ Syn: cardinal number ]

  3. a variable color averaging a vivid red

    [ Syn: carmine ]

  4. crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red plumage in the male

    [ Syn: cardinal grosbeak , richmondena cardinalis , cardinalis cardinalis , redbird ]

    cardinal (adj.)

  1. serving as an essential component; a cardinal rule; the central cause of the problem; an example that was fundamental to the argument; computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure

    [ Syn: central , fundamental , key , primal ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.