Meanings
- not comparablemathematicsOf a subset of a partially ordered set; containing elements at least as late as any given element of the set, relative to the given partial order.
The Archimedean property of real numbers means that the natural numbers form a cofinal subset of ℝ.
2 more examples
In order to apply this result to Quine’s project of radical translation, we take X to be the set of all Native observation sentences and construe an observational sub-language that contains only observation sentences and all their syntactic parts such that X is cofinal in the set of expressions of the sub-language.
2007 November 29, Manfred Kupffer, “An Unintentional Defense of the Indeterminacy of Meaning?”, in Erkenntnis, volume 68, number 2, →DOIThe dual notion of cofinality is coinitiality: a set S#92;subseteqP is called coinitial if for every p#92;inP there is q#92;inS such that q#92;lep. Equivalently, a coinitial set in P is a cofinal set in P#92;ast#58;#61;(P,#92;ge). […] Both cofinality and coinitiality need not be well-defined for an arbitrary partial order (e.g. if the partial order is only made of two incomparable elements).
2024 November 12, Steffen Lempp, Alberto Marcone, Manlio Valenti, “Chains and antichains in the Weihrauch lattice”, in arXiv, page 1, archived from the original on 23 Jun 2026
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Italic*kom
- Proto-Italic*kom-
- Latincon-
- Latinco-
- Englishco-
- Englishfinal
- Englishcofinal
Translations
Polish współkońcowy
- współkońcowycontaining elements at least as late as any given element of the containing set
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
cofinal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cofinal
“cofinal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cofinal. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cofinal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cofinal.
Source: cofinal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.