Dictionary Definition
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]
2 being or denoting a numerical quantity but not
order; "cardinal numbers" [ant: ordinal]
Noun
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]
User Contributed Dictionary
Adjective
- Of fundamental importance.
- a cardinal rule
- a cardinal direction
- a cardinal rule
- Of or relating to the cardinal directions
- Describing a number used in counting, e.g., one, two, three.
- Having a bright red color (from the color of Catholic cardinals cassock).
Translations
of fundamental importance
- Breton: pennañ
- Finnish: perus-, pää-, emä-, peri-, kardinaali-
- German: grundsätzlich
- Icelandic: höfuð-, aðal-, megin-, grundvallar- (prefix in a compound word)
- Interlingua: cardinal
- Italian: cardinale
- Japanese: 基本
- Polish: kardynalny
- Portuguese: cardeal, fundamental, principal
- Russian: главный (glávnyj), основной (osnovnój)
- Spanish: cardinal
- Vietnamese: chính, chủ yếu, cốt yếu
of or relating to the cardinal directions
- Finnish: kardinaali-
describing a number that indicates quantity
- Finnish: perus-, kardinaali-
- French: cardinal
- German: grundsätzlich
- Interlingua: cardinal
- Italian: cardinale
- Japanese: 基数 (きすう, kisū)
- Polish: kardynalny
- Portuguese: cardeal, cardinal
- Russian: количественный
- Spanish: cardinal
- Vietnamese: lượng
having a bright red color
- French: rouge cardinal
- Icelandic: hárauður
- Italian: cardinale
- Polish: purpurowy
- Vietnamese: đỏ thắm
- ttbc Indonesian: Kardinal
- ttbc Romanian: cardinal
Noun
- A number indicating
quantity, or the size of a set, e.g., one, two, three. (See
Wikipedia
article on Cardinal number.)
- The commonest numerals in Latin, as in English, are the "cardinals"...and the "ordinals"... — F. M. Wheelock, Wheelock’s Latin, 6th ed. revised (2005), p97
- An official in the Catholic Church, ranking only below the Pope and the patriarchs. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
- A songbird of the finch family, Cardinalis cardinalis.
- Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae. (See Wikipedia article on cardinal birds.)
- a bright red color
- cardinal colour:
Translations
number
- Dutch: hoofdtelwoord
- Finnish: perusluku
- French: cardinal
- German: Grundzahl
- Greek: απόλυτα αριθμητικά (apólita arithmitiká) n/pl (cardinal numbers)
- Icelandic: frumtala
- Italian: numero cardinale
- Japanese: 基数 (kisū)
- Kurdish: (jimareyên) sade
- Latvian: kardināls
- Polish: liczba główna , liczba kardynalna
- Portuguese: cardinal , número cardinal
- Russian: количественное числительное (kolíčestvennoje čislítel’noje)
- Slovene: kardinalno število
- Spanish: número cardinal
- Vietnamese: số lượng
- West Frisian: haadtelwurd
official in Catholic Church
- Czech: kardinál
- Dutch: kardinaal
- Finnish: kardinaali
- French: cardinal
- German: Kardinal
- Greek: καρδινάλιος
- Hungarian: bíboros
- Icelandic: kardináli
- Italian: cardinale
- Japanese: 枢機卿 (sūki-kyō)
- Kurdish: kardînal, metran
- Polish: kardynał
- Portuguese: cardeal
- Russian: кардинал (kardinál)
- Slovene: kardinal
- Spanish: cardenal
- Vietnamese: (đức) hồng y
bird Cardinalis cardinalis
- Finnish: punakardinaali
- German: Rotkardinal
- Spanish: cardenal común , cardenal rojo
any bird in family Cardinalidae
- Dutch: kardinaal
- Finnish: kardinaali
- French: cardinal
- German: Kardinal
- Italian: cardinale
- Polish: kardynał
- Portuguese: cardeal
- Russian: кардинал (kardinál)
- Spanish: cardenal
colour
- Dutch: kardinaalrood
- French: rouge cardinal
- German: Kardinalrot
- Icelandic: hárauður
- Italian: color cardinale
- Japanese: 緋色 (hiiro)
- Polish: purpura
- Vietnamese: (màu) đỏ thắm
- ttbc Breton: niver pegementiñ, niveroù pegementiñ p (1), kardinal m pl kardinaled (2)
- ttbc Greek: καρδινάλιος (karðinálios) , λοφιοφόρος (lofiofáros)
- ttbc Interlingua: numero cardinal (1); cardinal (2,3)
- ttbc Romanian: cardinal
- ttbc Vietnamese: chim hồng y
Derived terms
- cardinal bird
- cardinal fish
- cardinal flower
- cardinally
- cardinal number
- cardinal numeral
- cardinal point
- cardinal spider
- cardinal symptom
- cardinal virtue
- cardinal vowels
- cardinalate
- cardinality
- cardinalship
- incardinate
See also
- Contrast with ordinal (numbers)
Extensive Definition
The word cardinal comes from the Latin cardo for "hinge" and usually
refers to things of fundamental importance, as in cardinal
rule or cardinal
sins.
Cardinal may refer to:
- Cardinal (Catholicism), a senior ecclesiastical official, of the Catholic Church
- Cardinal (bird), a family of passerine birds living in the Americas
- Cardinal (color), a vivid reddish color
- Cardinal directions
- Cardinal (passenger train), an Amtrak route connecting Chicago with New York via Cincinnati and Washington
- Cardinal Health, a multinational health supply and pharmaceutical distributor
- Cardinal mark, a sea mark used in navigation
- Cardinal number, in mathematics
- Cardinal tetra, a species of fish
- Cardinal veins
- A name for the Cessna 177 aircraft
- Cardinal (beer), a Swiss brewery
- Cardinal (grape), a wine and table grape
Several sports teams use the name Cardinals:
- Arizona Cardinals, an professional American football team
- Cardenales de Lara, a Venezuelan baseball team
- Louisville Cardinals, an intercollegiate sports team in Louisville
- Mapua Cardinals, the varsity teams of Mapua Institute of Technology
- St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball team in the National League
- Stanford Cardinal, the sports teams of Stanford University, named after the color as opposed to the bird
People named Cardinal include:
- Judah ben Isaac Cardinal, French translator who lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century
- Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
- Douglas J. Cardinal (born 1934), a Canadian architect
- Harold Cardinal (1945-2005), a Cree writer and political leader
- Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper/producer
- Lorne Cardinal, Canadian actor
- Mark Cardinal, Canadian rugby player
- Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress
Places named Cardinal include:
- Cardinal, Ontario
- Several high schools, see Cardinal High School
cardinal in Czech: Kardinál (rozcestník)
cardinal in Danish: Kardinal
cardinal in German: Kardinal
(Begriffsklärung)
cardinal in French: Cardinal
cardinal in Hebrew: קרדינל (פירושונים)
cardinal in Dutch: Kardinaal
cardinal in Japanese: カージナルス
cardinal in Norwegian: Kardinal (andre
betydninger)
cardinal in Portuguese: Cardeal
(desambiguação)
cardinal in Russian: Кардинал (значения)
cardinal in Simple English: Cardinal
cardinal in Thai: คาร์ดินัล
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Gaussian integer, Grand Penitentiary, Holy
Father, Titian,
Titian-red, abuna,
algebraic number, algorismic, algorithmic, aliquot, all-absorbing, antipope, arch, archbishop, archdeacon, archpriest, banner, bishop, bishop coadjutor,
bricky, canon, capital, cardinal bishop,
cardinal deacon, cardinal number, cardinal priest, carmine, carnation, carnelian, central, cerise, champion, chaplain, cherry, cherry-colored,
cherry-red, chief,
coadjutor, complex
number, constitutive, controlling, crimson, crowning, curate, damask, dean, decimal, defective number,
differential,
digital, diocesan, dominant, ecclesiarch, essential, even, even number, exarch, exponential, ferruginous, fiery, figural, figurate, figurative, finite, finite number, fire-red,
first, flame-colored,
flame-red, flaming,
focal, foremost, fraction, fractional, fundamental, glowing, great, gules, headmost, hegemonic, hierarch, high priest, highest, hot, imaginary, imaginary number,
impair, important, impossible, incarmined, infinite, infinity, inflamed, infrared, integer, integral, iron-red, irrational, irrational
number, key, lake-colored,
laky, lateritious, leading, lobster-red, logarithmic, logometric, lurid, magisterial, main, maroon, master, metropolitan, mixed number,
necessary, negative, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, odd, ordinal, overriding, overruling, pair, papa, paramount, patriarch, penitentiary, pivotal, polygonal number,
pontiff, pope, port-wine, positive, possible, prebendary, predominant, preeminent, prelate, premier, preponderant, prevailing, primal, primary, primate, prime, prime number, principal, puce, pure imaginary, radical, ranking, rational, rational number,
real, real number, reciprocal, rectangular
number, rector, red, red-dyed, red-looking, reddened, reddish, reddish-amber,
reddish-brown, round number, rubicund, rubiginous, rubric, rubricose, ruby, ruby-colored, ruby-red,
ruddied, ruddy, rufescent, rufous, ruling, rural dean, rust, rust-red, rusty, scarlet, serial number, sovereign, special, stammel, star, stellar, subdean, submultiple, suffragan, supereminent, supreme, surd, tile-red, topflight, topmost, transcendental,
transcendental number, transfinite number, uppermost, vermilion, vicar, vinaceous, vital, warm, whole number, wine, wine-colored,
wine-red