Skip to content

nominal

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L324502 on Wikidata ↗

adjective

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L338681 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/ / [ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩] / /ˈnɑ.mɪ.nl̩/

adj

Etymology: PIE word *h₁nómn̥ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Italic *nōmn̥ Latin nōmen Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin nōminālisder. Middle English nominalle English nominal From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), ultimately from oblique stem of Latin nōmen, nōminis (“name”) + -al.

  1. Of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names.
  2. Assigned to or bearing a person's name.
  3. Existing in name only.

    a nominal difference

    1856 February, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Oliver Goldsmith, republished in 1865, The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, page 300, At Edinburgh he passed eighteen months in nominal attendance on lectures, and picked up some superficial information about chemistry and natural history.

  4. Of or relating to nominalism.
  5. Insignificantly small.

    He gave me only a nominal sum for my services.

    In the summer, DCC [Devon County Council] transferred ownership of the northern part of the station to NR for a nominal £1, enabling it (and the platform) to become part of the rail network.

  6. Of or relating to the presumed or approximate value, rather than the actual value.

    The nominal voltage is 1.5 V, but the actual figure is usually higher.

    the nominal yield of a nuclear weapon

  7. Of, relating to, or being the amount or face value of a sum of money or a stock certificate, for example, and not the purchasing power or market value.
  8. Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation.
  9. Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.

    This sentence contains a nominal phrase.

  10. According to plan or design.

    We'll just do a nominal flight check.

    Apart from the slightly high temperature, all the readings from the spacecraft are nominal.

  11. Without adjustment to remove the effects of inflation.

    My employer does not understand how low my nominal wage is.

    The nominal GNP of this country is pretty low.

  12. Having values whose order is insignificant.
  13. Of a species, the species name without consideration of whether it is a junior synonym or in reality consists of more than one biological species.

    Since then, a good deal of research has documented and concluded that the nominal species A. fraterculus actually comprises an unresolved complex of cryptic species.

noun

Etymology: PIE word *h₁nómn̥ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Italic *nōmn̥ Latin nōmen Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin nōminālisder. Middle English nominalle English nominal From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), ultimately from oblique stem of Latin nōmen, nōminis (“name”) + -al.

  1. A noun or word group that functions as part of a noun phrase.

    This sentence contains two nominals.

  2. A part of speech that shares features with nouns and adjectives. (Depending on the language, it may comprise nouns, adjectives, possibly numerals, pronouns, and participles.)

    A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

  3. A number (usually natural) used like a name; a numeric code or identifier. (See nominal number on Wikipedia.)

    Numeric codes of characters used in programming are nominals.

  4. A person listed in the Police National Computer database as having been convicted, cautioned or recently arrested.