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canonical

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

According to recognised or orthodox rules.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhnahnuhkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kəˈnɑnəkəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. According to recognised or orthodox rules.

  2. Stated or used in the most basic and straightforwardly applicable manner.

  3. religion

    Of or relating to or required by canon law

  4. religion

    In conformity with canon law.

  5. Present in a canon, religious or otherwise.

  6. Prototypical.

noun

  1. plural only

    The formal robes of a priest.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: According to recognised or orthodox rules.

Used this way, canonical is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use canonical

  • “A canonical book of the Christian New Testament.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

canonical formcanonical correlationcanonical hourscanonical ensemblecanonical gospelscanonical statuscanonical textcanonical analysis

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • canonical hournounCompound term

    One of seven specified times for prayer.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.