canonical

comparative more canonical · superlative most canonical

1. Present in a canon, religious or otherwise.

   The Gospel of Luke is a canonical New Testament book.

   2 more examples

   In a word, they were made uſe of by the immediate ſucceſſors of the Apoſtles, and many of them read in the Public Aſſemblies of Chriſtians, as Canonical Scripture, without the leaſt mark of Diſtinction, in point of Autority[…]

   1732, George Reynolds, A diſſertation: or, Inquiry Concerning the Canonical Autority of the Goſpel according to Mathew; […] , 2nd edition, page 4

   It was not the substance of any doctrine that was at issue: the official, canonical version of dialectical materialism that was later adopted was virtually indistinguishable from Deborin's.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 75

2. According to recognised or orthodox rules.

   The men played golf in the most canonical way, with no local rules.

   1 more example

   While bills are being brought into the House of Commons to regulate every thing, from the sweeps crying "sweep," to "emancipation, vote by ballot, and free trade," is there no county member whose "time and talents" are devoted to "domestic policy," who will bring in a bill "for the better regulation of the marriage ceremony," and put the canonical hours later in the day?

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, pages 158–159

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

   the reduction of a linear substitution to its canonical form

4. Prototypical.
5. lifestyleIn conformity with canon law.
6. entertainmentIn the form of a canon.
7. lifestyleOf or pertaining to an ecclesiastical chapter.
8. computingIn canonical form.
9. mathematicsDistinguished among entities of its kind, so that it can be picked out in a way that does not depend on any arbitrary choices.

   It turns out that ordered pairs can be defined in set theory, e.g. as (x,y)#58;#61;#92;#123;#92;#123;x,y#92;#125;,y#92;#125;. Note that in no sense is such a definition canonical.

   2011 July 2, Samson Abramsky with Nikos Tzevelekos, “Introduction to Categories and Categorical Logic”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 19

10. slanglifestyleRelated to or part of the canon of a fictional universe; officially part of a fictional work’s established continuity.

plural canonicals

1. pluralplural onlyThe formal robes of a priest.

   Mr Altham rose, as in duty bound, in honour to a priest, and a priest who, as he dimly discerned by his canonicals, was not altogether a common one.

   1891, Emily Sarah Holt, The White Lady of Hazelwood

   2 more examples

   He, good man, could make but little of his solitary friend, and must many a time have been startled out of his canonicals by the strange, alien speeches which he heard.

   1857, Various, The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 2, December, 1857

   When I was a boy I was a passionate atheist, I defied God, and so far as God is the mere sanction of social traditions and pressures, a mere dressing up of the crowd's will in canonicals, I do still deny him and repudiate him.

   1915, H. G. Wells, The Research Magnificent

2. InternetA URL presented in canonical form.

   Google advises canonicals as one of the preferred methods of treating duplicate content in your CMS.

   2015, Simon Kloostra, Joomla! 3 SEO and Performance, page 63