ordinal number
1
3.4
- noun
- /ˈɔrdənl ˈnʌmbər/
:
número ordinal
- Local councils are not named with an ordinal number.
Examples
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First, second, third, etc. are ordinal numbers used to rank things.
Blog text (8) -
Otherwise, it would be a rating system, and you shouldn't use ordinal numbers to describe ratings.
Blog text (8) -
A great book for teaching ordinal numbers or marine animals!
Blog text (5) -
Treat ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) as you would cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.).
Academic text (2002) -
The instructor recorded the ordinal number of the pedestrian who offered assistance (i.e., that person was the first, fourth, ninth, or whatever number passerby).
Academic text (2000) -
And this gave rise to the canonical tradition that attaches an ordinal number to this council ("the sixth council"), which is done only for ecumenical councils, not for local councils.
Academic text (2010) -
An ordinal number tells us the position of an item in a list, like first or second.
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In a race, the runner who finishes first gets the gold medal, while others are assigned ordinal numbers.
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When organizing the books, I labeled them with ordinal numbers to indicate their order on the shelf.
Synonyms
1
3.8
A number that shows the position in a sequence, like first or second
Antonyms
- Specialized
1
2.4
A number that shows how many things there are, not their order, for example one, two, three
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'ordinal' (indicating position in an order) modifies 'number', so the combined meaning is a number that shows position in a sequence. This adjective+noun pattern is semantically transparent and common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Ordinal number comes from numbers that show a place in a line, like first, second, third. So, an ordinal number tells 'position' or 'order' in a list.