cardinal

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car·di·nal

(kär′dn-əl, kärd′nəl)

adj.

1. Of foremost importance; paramount: a cardinal rule; cardinal sins.

2. Dark to deep or vivid red.

1. Abbr. Card. Roman Catholic Church A high church official, ranking just below the pope, who has been appointed by a pope to membership in the College of Cardinals.

2. A dark to deep or vivid red.

3. A North American bird (Cardinalis cardinalis) having a crested head, a short thick bill, and bright red plumage in the male.

4. A short hooded cloak, originally of scarlet cloth, worn by women in the 1700s.

5. A cardinal number.

[Middle English, from Late Latin cardinālis, principal, pivotal, from Latin, serving as a hinge, from cardō, cardin-, hinge.]

car′di·nal·ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cardinal

(ˈkɑːdɪnəl)

1. (Roman Catholic Church) RC Church any of the members of the Sacred College, ranking next after the pope, who elect the pope and act as his chief counsellors

2. (Colours) Also called: cardinal red a deep vivid red colour

3. (Mathematics) See cardinal number

4. (Animals) Also called: cardinal grosbeak or redbird (US)a crested North American bunting, Richmondena (or Pyrrhuloxia) cardinalis, the male of which has a bright red plumage and the female a brown one

5. (Animals) a fritillary butterfly, Pandoriana pandora, found in meadows of southern Europe

6. (Clothing & Fashion) a woman's hooded shoulder cape worn in the 17th and 18th centuries

adj

7. (usually prenominal) fundamentally important; principal: cardinal sin.

8. (Colours) of a deep vivid red colour

9. (Anatomy) astrology of or relating to the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. Compare mutable², fixed¹⁰

[C13: from Latin cardinālis, literally: relating to a hinge, hence, that on which something depends, principal, from cardō hinge]

ˈcardinally adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

car•di•nal

(ˈkɑr dn l)

adj.

1. of prime importance; chief; principal.

2. of the color cardinal.

3. a high ecclesiastic appointed by the pope to the College of Cardinals.

4. a common crested songbird, Cardinalis cardinalis, of North America, the male of which is bright red.

5. a deep, rich red color.

6. a woman's short scarlet cloak with a hood, worn in the 18th century.

7. cardinal number.

[before 1150; < Latin cardinālis <cardō hinge]

car′di•nal•ly, adv.

car′di•nal•ship`, n.

cardinal

One of the three qualities; associated with receptivity, initiative and executive action.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	cardinal - (Roman Catholic Church) one of a group of more than 100 prominent bishops in the Sacred College who advise the Pope and elect new Popes Church of Rome, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Church, Western Church, Roman Catholic - the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy College of Cardinals, Sacred College - (Roman Catholic Church) the body of cardinals who advise the Pope and elect new Popes bishop - a senior member of the Christian clergy having spiritual and administrative authority; appointed in Christian churches to oversee priests or ministers; considered in some churches to be successors of the twelve Apostles of Christ dean - (Roman Catholic Church) the head of the College of Cardinals
	2.	cardinal - the number of elements in a mathematical set; denotes a quantity but not the order cardinal number number - a concept of quantity involving zero and units; "every number has a unique position in the sequence" absolute frequency, frequency - the number of observations in a given statistical category googol - a cardinal number represented as 1 followed by 100 zeros (ten raised to the power of a hundred) googolplex - a cardinal number represented as 1 followed by a googol of zeros (ten raised to the power of a googol)
	3.	cardinal - a variable color averaging a vivid red carmine red, redness - red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
	4.	cardinal - crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red plumage in the male cardinal grosbeak, Cardinalis cardinalis, Richmondena Cardinalis, redbird finch - any of numerous small songbirds with short stout bills adapted for crushing seeds genus Richmondena, Richmondena - cardinals
Adj.	1.	cardinal - serving as an essential component; "a cardinal rule"; "the central cause of the problem"; "an example that was fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure" central, fundamental, key, primal important, of import - of great significance or value; "important people"; "the important questions of the day"
	2.	cardinal - being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order; "cardinal numbers" ordinal - being or denoting a numerical order in a series; "ordinal numbers"; "held an ordinal rank of seventh"

cardinal

adjective principal, first, highest, greatest, leading, important, chief, main, prime, central, key, essential, primary, fundamental, paramount, foremost, pre-eminent As a salesman, your cardinal rule is to do everything you can to satisfy the customer.
lowest, secondary, subordinate, least important, dispensable, inessential

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

cardinal

adjective

Most important, influential, or significant:

capital, chief, first, foremost, key, leading, main, major, number one, paramount, premier, primary, prime, principal, top.

Translations

أصْليكاردينال

kardinálpodstatnýhlavní

kardinalkardinal-

Kardinal grundsätzlich Grundzahl Haupt-...

καρδινάλιος

cardenal cardinal número cardinal

kardinaaliperuslukupunakardinaali

cardinal

bíboros

höfuî-, megin-kardináli

cardinale cardinale rosso fondamentale numero cardinale

基本

kardinolaskiekiniai skaitvardžiai

galvenaiskardināls

kardinaal

kardinal

kardynał purpura purpurowy

cardeal cardinal fundamental principal

кардинал количественный

kardinál

kardinal

en önemlikardinal temel

lượngsố lượng

主要的红衣主教

cardinal

[ˈkɑːdɪnl]

A. ADJ → cardinal
a cardinal rule → una regla primordial or fundamental
of cardinal importance → de capital importancia

B. N (Rel) → cardenal m

C. CPD cardinal number N (Math) → número m cardinal
cardinal point N → punto m cardinal
cardinal sin N (Rel) → pecado m capital
cardinal virtue N → virtud f cardinal

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

cardinal

[ˈkɑː^rdn^əl]

adj [rule] → cardinal(e)

n (= cleric) → cardinal mcardinal sin n → péché m capitalcard index n → fichier m (alphabétique)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

cardinal

(Eccl) → Kardinal m

? cardinal number

adj (= chief) → Haupt-; (= utmost) → äußerste(r, s) attr

cardinal

cardinal number

n → Kardinalzahl f

cardinal points

pl → Himmelsrichtungen pl

cardinal red

n → Purpurrot nt

cardinal sin

n → Todsünde f

cardinal virtue

n → Kardinaltugend f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

cardinal

[ˈkɑːdɪnl] adj & n → cardinale (m)

cardinal

(ˈkaːdənl) adjective

chief; principal. cardinal sins.

noun

(the status of) one of the men next in rank to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.

cardinal numbers numbers expressing quantity (1,2,3 etc). See also ordinal numbers

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References in classic literature ?

The valet held a wax-light; the cardinal took a key from his bureau and opening the door of a secret stair descended into the court of the Palais Royal.

"Which means, I suppose, that the musketeers are better soldiers than the guards." The cardinal smiled as he spoke.

In a splendid chamber of the Palais Royal, formerly styled the Palais Cardinal, a man was sitting in deep reverie, his head supported on his hands, leaning over a gilt and inlaid table which was covered with letters and papers.

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the din of all the great double petards of the Saint-Jean, the discharge of twenty arquebuses on supports, the detonation of that famous serpentine of the Tower of Billy, which, during the siege of Paris, on Sunday, the twenty-sixth of September, 1465, killed seven Burgundians at one blow, the explosion of all the powder stored at the gate of the Temple, would have rent his ears less rudely at that solemn and dramatic moment, than these few words, which fell from the lips of the usher, "His eminence, Monseigneur the Cardinal de Bourbon."

It is not that Pierre Gringoire either feared or disdained monsieur the cardinal. He had neither the weakness nor the audacity for that.

There was then neither hatred for the cardinal, nor disdain for his presence, in the disagreeable impression produced upon Pierre Gringoire.

View in context

This man was Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de Richelieu; not such as he is now represented--broken down like an old man, suffering like a martyr, his body bent, his voice failing, buried in a large armchair as in an anticipated tomb; no longer living but by the strength of his genius, and no longer maintaining the struggle with Europe but by the eternal application of his thoughts--but such as he really was at this period; that is to say, an active and gallant cavalier, already weak of body, but sustained by that moral power which made of him one of the most extraordinary men that ever lived, preparing, after having supported the Duc de Nevers in his duchy of Mantua, after having taken Nimes, Castres, and Uzes, to drive the English from the Isle of Re and lay siege to La Rochelle.

At first sight, nothing denoted the cardinal; and it was impossible for those who did not know his face to guess in whose presence they were.

At the end of ten minutes of reading and ten seconds of examination, the cardinal was satisfied.

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All eyes, after having admired the young king, so handsome and so agreeable, sought for that other king of France, much otherwise king than the former, and so old, so pale, so bent, that people called him the Cardinal Mazarin.

Certes, he was already quite a king, and it was a great thing to be a king in that period of traditional devotedness and respect; but as, up to that time, he had been but seldom and always poorly shown to the people, as they to whom he was shown saw him by the side of his mother, a tall woman, and monsieur le cardinal, a man of commanding presence, many found him so little of a king as to say, --

"Why, the king is not so tall as monsieur le cardinal!"

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