MEANING
1. Indicating order or rank rather than the size or amount of something.
2. A number or expression showing position in an ordered sequence, such as first or second.
Use it for
describing categories that can be ranked; distinguishing rank from a measured amount; warning against assuming equal gaps between ordered categoriesDistinguishes ranked positions from measured quantities or equally spaced numerical intervals. Academic functions: Research / Methodology, Comparison / Contrast.
Words that belong together
- ordinal data
- ordinal scale
- ordinal ranking
On the page
The responses form ordinal data because their categories are ordered without establishing equal gaps between them.
The analysis preserves the ordinal ranking while avoiding an unsupported claim about the size of each difference.
The instructions use ordinals to identify the first and second stages rather than to count the participants.
An ordinal identifies position; a cardinal number answers how many items there are.
Word forms
- Base
- ordinal
Usage notes
Adjective: ordinal data, ordinal scale. Count noun: an ordinal, ordinals, for position numbers such as first or second. Normally non-gradable. Register: technical. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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