notional

comparative more notional · superlative most notional

1. Of, containing, or being a notion; mental or imaginary.

   Near-synonyms: conceptual, fancied, fanciful, ideal

   2 more examples

   The idea that a rooster says cock-a-doodle-doo rather than ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh is socially conventional even though its sound correspondence is at heart notional.

   He was now receiving reports of a second suspect Anglo Leasing deal, this time for the notional provision of a state-of-the-art police forensic laboratory.

   2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower

   Synonyms: conceptual, fancied, fanciful, ideal, conceptual, ideal, conceptual, ideal

2. Speculative, theoretical, not the result of research.

   This paper proposes a notional Federated Identity Management (FIM) architecture.

3. MaineStubborn.
4. human sciencesHaving descriptive value as opposed to a syntactic category.
5. businessUsed to indicate an estimate or a reference amount

   Gold traded at $909.00 an ounce, up 0.2 percent from New York's notional close of $906.65 on Wednesday.

   2009 March 11, “Gold inches up on bargain hunt, ETF hits record”, in Ninemsn

   1 more example

   Under the agreements, Harvard paid the banks fixed interest rates on a total notional amount of $3.52 billion in exchange for floating-rate payments from them.

   2009 March 3, “Harvard Accepts Higher Debt Costs as Bankers Profit”, in Bloomberg

6. informalFull of ideas or imaginings.

   She knew what Pete would say if she told him about it — he would say she was getting notional; and she did not want Pete to think of her as a notional woman. Notional women sometimes had a hard time marrying unless they had money.

   1995, Walter D. Edmonds, In the Hands of the Senecas, page 137

plural notionals

1. A fake company used as a front in espionage.

   Numerous CIA notionals, created to counter Communist organizations in Western Europe during the Cold War years, remain active and unrevealed.

   2012, Joseph C. Goulden, Peter Earnest, The Dictionary of Espionage: Spyspeak Into English, page 157