cardinal
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahrduhnuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑɹdənəl
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red plumage in the male
A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)
A variable color averaging a vivid red
Lobelia cardinalis (syn. L. fulgens), a species of lobelia native to the Americas, usually with vibrant red flowers.
A student or player on a sports team at the University of Louisville.
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.
adjective
Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
nautical
Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock).
Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
Used this way, cardinal 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 cardinal
- “A bright red cardinal landed on the bird feeder this morning.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
noun
Sense: crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red plumage in the male
Antonyms
Sense: describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g
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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.