nominal

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /ˈnɒm.ɪnl̩/
• (America, CA) IPA: /ˈnɑm.ɪnl̩/

Adjective

nominal (not comparable)

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, 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. (philosophy) Of or relating to nominalism.
5. Insignificantly small.

   Synonyms: trifling

   He gave me only a nominal sum for my services.

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. (finance) 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. (finance) Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation.
9. (grammar) Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.

   This sentence contains a nominal phrase.

10. (engineering) According to plan or design.

    Synonyms: normal

    We'll just do a nominal flight check.

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

11. (economics) Without adjustment to remove the effects of inflation.

    Antonyms: real

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

    The nominal GNP of this country is pretty low.

    • 1991, Richard J. Gilbert, Regulatory Choices: A Perspective on Developments in Energy Policy, page 267 ↗,

      Comparisons of the costs of the Diablo Canyon plant with other nuclear power plants can be misleading because the available cost data are in nominal dollars and therefore include the toll of inflation over the construction periods.

    • 2001, Erich A. Helfert, Financial Analysis: Tools and Techniques: A Guide for Managers, page 467 ↗,

      This simple process allows us to convert nominal dollars into inflation-adjusted real dollars.

12. (statistics, of a variable) Having values whose order is insignificant.
13. (taxonomy) 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.

Related terms

• denominate
• denomination
• denominator
• nomenclature
• nominalism
• nominalist
• nominality
• nominate
• nomination
• nominative
• nominator

Translations

• French: nominal
• Portuguese: nominal
• Russian: именно́й
• Spanish: nominal

Translations

• Russian: номина́льный
• Spanish: nominal

Translations

• Portuguese: nominal
• Russian: именно́й
• Spanish: nominal

Translations

• Russian: номина́льный

Translations

• Russian: номина́льный

Noun

nominal (plural nominals)

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

   This sentence contains two nominals.

2. (grammar) A part of speech that shares features with nouns and adjectives.
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. (UK, police jargon) A person listed in the Police National Computer database as having been convicted, cautioned or recently arrested.

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