cardinal

comparative more cardinal · superlative most cardinal

1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.

   a cardinal rule

   3 more examples

   But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.

   1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   the cardinal intersections of the zodiack

   1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC

   Impudence is now a cardinal virtue.

   a. 1631, Michael Drayton, To my noble friend Mr. William Brown, of the evil time

2. nauticalOf or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).

   a cardinal mark

3. Describing a “natural” number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
4. Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal’s cassock).
5. astrologyBeing one of the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, associated with initiation, creation, and force.

plural cardinals

1. countableuncountableCatholicismOne of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.

   His uncle, a Cardinal, engages a Spanish youth of Moorish descent called Diego, an expert singer and player on the virginal, to unlock the secrets of the heart,[…]and cure him by the spell of his music.

   1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 16, in Friday's Business

   1 more example

   Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis. Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis’s papacy; and the moderate US cardinal Robert Prevost.

   2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian

2. countableuncountableAny 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. (See Wikipedia article for taxonomical information.)

   1 more example

   Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168

   Synonyms: cardinalid

3. countableuncountableA deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)

   Dark navy-blue, cardinal, golden-brown, old blue, olive, slate-gray, and telegraph-blue are the favorite solid colors seen in heavy beaver cloths […]

   1889, Demorests' Monthly Magazine, volume 25, page 65

   1 more example

   The cardinal red and silver grey colors were worn with great enthusiasm. In the spring-time, when the entire student body bought their new straw hats, the bands were of cardinal and grey ribbon.

   1914, ἄν ἀνἁβιλε [án anhabile], “Under the Cardinal Red and Silver Grey”, in Corks and Curls, volume 27, University of Virginia, page 28

4. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountablemathematicsEllipsis of cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3). (See Cardinal_number.)

   This cardinal number is the smallest of the infinite cardinal numbers; it is the one to which Cantor has appropriated the Hebrew aleph with the suffix 0, to distinguish it from larger infinite cardinals. Thus the name of the smallest of infinite cardinals is ₀א.

   1920, Bertrand Russell, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, page 83

5. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountablegrammarEllipsis of cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.

   The commonest numerals in Latin, as in English, are the "cardinals" […] and the "ordinals" […].

   2005, Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin, 6th ed. revised, p.97

6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a flowering plant.

   The sweet-briar rose with perfume good, / And the violet grows in the Milton wood, / The cardinal red—a queen is she, / But the sweetest flower is Mary Lee.

   1844–1857, Marion D. Sullivan, “Mary Lee: A Romance of the Milton Wood” (sheet music), Boston: Oliver Ditson, page 2, verse 3

7. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), a freshwater fish.
8. countablehistoricaluncountableA woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.

   Where's your cardinal! Make haste.

   c. 1760, Robert Lloyd, Chit-Chat, an imitation of Theocritus

   4 more examples

   […]; and whilst she was looking over several pieces of each, she took an opportunity of concealing under her cardinal a piece of cotton, and several handkerchiefs, with which she went off undiscovered;[…].

   1763 August 9, The London Chronicle For the Year 1763, volume 14, page 130, column 2

   She has valuables of mine; besides, my cardinal and veil are in her room.

   1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, I.3

   I have made no objection to their wearing the cardinal, though it be a habit of popish etymology, and was, I am afraid, first invented to hide the sluttishness of French dishabille.

   1823, Lionel Thomas Berguer, World, page 115

   Closely drawing her cardinal round her, she descended into the park, at whose extremity was the little chapel where she intended to make her offering. She soon arrived there, and found the aged priest in attendance.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 274

9. countableobsoleteuncountableMulled red wine.

   A Recipe to make Cardinal, which I attribute to the German governess, raises a problem.

   1951, Herbert Warner Allen, A Contemplation of Wine, page 116

   2 more examples

   He goes up, and finds the remains of the supper, Tankards full of egg-flip and cardinal, and a party playing at vingt-un.

   1861, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford

   It was de Rosenberg's practice to separate young bloods from their inheritance, and to facilitate this he served them a vicious drink called 'cardinal', a mulled wine of which the ascertainable ingredients were a pineapple and several mixed vintages.

   1974, Dennis Walton Dodds, Napoleon's Love Child: A Biography of Count Leon, page 59

plural Cardinals

1. ball gamesA player on the St. Louis Cardinals team.

   Smith became a Cardinal as the result of a pre-season trade.

2. American footballA player on the Arizona Cardinals team.
3. A student or player on a sports team at the University of Louisville.

plural Cardinals

1. A player on a sports team at Stanford University.

1. A surname from French common among French Canadians as well as Cree and Métis indigenous peoples in Canada.