Meanings
plural denominations
- uncountableThe act of naming or designating.
- countableThat by which anything is denominated or styled; an epithet; a name, designation, or title; especially, a general name indicating a class of like individuals.
"Will you allow me to present Sir George Evelyn to you?—the most accomplished coquet that ever 'Dealt destruction round the land On all he judged a foe;' under which denomination he ranks all women."
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 46 - countablelifestyleA class, or society of individuals, called by the same name; a subdivision of a religion.
She follows the Ahmadiyya denomination of Islam.
1 more example
Denomination does more than create space in which to discern, however. It also provides a means for living out differing forms of a faithful Christian life.
2011, Paul M. Collins, Barry A. Ensign-George, Denomination: Assessing an Ecclesiological Category, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 6 - countableA unit in a series of units of weight, money, etc.
What denomination is that money? They are all 50 euro notes.
2 more examples
In 1823, a further issue of treasury notes was ordered to the amount of $100,000, in denominations of five to seventy-five cents, receivable for dues to the State.
1896, William Graham Sumner, chapter 11, in History of Banking in the United StatesThe French army in the 1870s used no fewer than 425 different rope diameters for its hot air balloons. Then Captain Charles Renard devised a system that reduced the number to 17. He got the bright idea that the diameter should increase in steps governed by a certain factor rather than, for instance, by a certain width expressed in millimeters. His concept now has widespread use in technology. It is also used, approximately, in the denominations of coins and bills, as in the sequence of coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, 1 and 2 euros, in 16 of the 27 countries in the European Union (fig. 1.5). The ISO standard defines four base series for Renard numbers, denoted R5, R10, R20, and R40. In the R5 series, each number is larger than the preceding one by the factor #92;sqrt#91;5#93;#123;10#125;#92;approx 1.584. For practical reasons, the numbers are slightly rounded, as shown in table 1.5 for R5 and R10. They take the same structure within every decade and are evenly spread when plotted on a logarithmic scale.
2010, Göran Grimvall, “Chapter 1: Numbers”, in Quantify! A Crash Course in Smart Thinking, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
nounidentifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēnōminātiō
- Old Frenchdenominacion
- Middle Englishdenominacioun
- Englishdenomination
From Middle English denominacioun, from Old French denominacion, from Latin dēnōminātiō. By surface analysis, denominate + -ion.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans denominasie, sekte
- denominasieclass or society with the same name, a sect
- sekteclass or society with the same name, a sect
Arabic طَائِفَة
- طَائِفَة (ṭāʔifa)class or society with the same name, a sect
Bulgarian наричане, именуване
- наричане (naričane)act of naming, designation
- именуване (imenuvane)act of naming, designation
- име (ime)name, designation, or title
- название (nazvanie)name, designation, or title
- секта (sekta)class or society with the same name, a sect
- стойност (stojnost)unit in a series of units
Catalan denominació
- denominacióact of naming, designation
Czech denominace
- denominaceclass or society with the same name, a sect
Danish benævnelse, klasse
- benævnelseact of naming, designation
- klassename, designation, or title
- kategoriname, designation, or title
- trossamfundclass or society with the same name, a sect
- sektclass or society with the same name, a sect
- pålydendeunit in a series of units
Finnish nimeäminen, nimittäminen
- nimeäminenact of naming, designation
- nimittäminenact of naming, designation
- ryhmäname, designation, or title
- ryhmäclass or society with the same name, a sect
- tunnustuskuntaclass or society with the same name, a sect
- uskontokuntaclass or society with the same name, a sect
- denominaatioclass or society with the same name, a sect
- kirkkokuntaclass or society with the same name, a sect
- lahkoclass or society with the same name, a sect
- arvounit in a series of units
- nimellisarvounit in a series of units
French dénomination, désignation
- dénominationact of naming, designation
- désignationname, designation, or title
German Benennung, Bezeichnung
- Benennungact of naming, designation
- Bezeichnungname, designation, or title
- Konfessionclass or society with the same name, a sect
- Stückelungunit in a series of units
Greek ονομασία, χαρακτηρισμός
- ονομασία (onomasía)act of naming, designation
- χαρακτηρισμός (charaktirismós)act of naming, designation
- όνομα (ónoma)name, designation, or title
- ονομασία (onomasía)name, designation, or title
- δόγμα (dógma)class or society with the same name, a sect
- θρήσκευμα (thrískevma)class or society with the same name, a sect
- αξία (axía)unit in a series of units
Hungarian elnevezés, felekezet
- elnevezésact of naming, designation
- felekezetclass or society with the same name, a sect
- szektaclass or society with the same name, a sect
Irish ainmniú, ainmníocht
- ainmniúact of naming, designation
- ainmníochtname, designation, or title
- sainaicme creidimhclass or society with the same name, a sect
- sainchreideamhclass or society with the same name, a sect
- aicmeunit in a series of units
- ainmníochtunit in a series of units
Italian valore nominale, valore facciale
- valore nominaleunit in a series of units
- valore faccialeunit in a series of units
Māori tānga hāhi
- tānga hāhiclass or society with the same name, a sect
Norwegian trossamfunn
- trossamfunnclass or society with the same name, a sect
Norwegian Bokmål kirkesamfunn
- kirkesamfunnclass or society with the same name, a sect
Polish denominacja, desygnacja
- denominacjaact of naming, designation
- desygnacjaname, designation, or title
- denominacjaclass or society with the same name, a sect
- nominałunit in a series of units
Portuguese denominação, denominação
- denominaçãoact of naming, designation
- denominaçãoname, designation, or title
- denominaçãoclass or society with the same name, a sect
- espécieunit in a series of units
Russian называ́ние, именова́ние
- называ́ние (nazyvánije)act of naming, designation
- именова́ние (imenovánije)act of naming, designation
- и́мя (ímja)name, designation, or title
- назва́ние (nazvánije)name, designation, or title
- наименова́ние (naimenovánije)name, designation, or title
- деномина́ция (denominácija)class or society with the same name, a sect
- вероисповеда́ние (veroispovedánije)class or society with the same name, a sect
- се́кта (sékta)class or society with the same name, a sect
- досто́инство (dostóinstvo)unit in a series of units
- сто́имость (stóimostʹ)unit in a series of units
Spanish denominación, denominación
- denominaciónact of naming, designation
- denominaciónname, designation, or title
- denominaciónclass or society with the same name, a sect
- denominaciónunit in a series of units
Swahili dhehebu
- dhehebuclass or society with the same name, a sect
Swedish namngivning, beteckning
- namngivningact of naming, designation
- beteckningname, designation, or title
- konfessionclass or society with the same name, a sect
Thai นามพรรณ
- นามพรรณact of naming, designation
Turkish adlandırma, denominasyon
- adlandırmaact of naming, designation
- denominasyonact of naming, designation
Ukrainian найменування, позначення
- найменування (najmenuvannja)name, designation, or title
- позначення (poznačennja)name, designation, or title
- віросповідання (virospovidannja)class or society with the same name, a sect
- конфесія (konfesija)class or society with the same name, a sect
- вартість (vartistʹ)unit in a series of units
Urdu سمپرداے
- سمپرداےclass or society with the same name, a sect
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with denomination
Cite this entry
denomination. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denomination
“denomination.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denomination. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “denomination,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/denomination.
Source: denomination on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.