nominal

PIE word
*h₁nómn̥

From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), ultimately from oblique stem of Latin nōmen, nōminis (“name”) +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/, [ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑ.mɪ.nl̩/, [ˈnɑ.mɪ.nl̩]

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.

   Synonym: ceremonial

   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.

   • 2013 October 5, Joel Kotkin, “California’s New Feudalism Benefits a Few at the Expense of the Multitude”, in The Daily Beast‎^[1]:

     In contrast to the traditionally conservative or libertarian ethos of the entrepreneurial class, the oligarchy is increasingly allied with the nominally populist Democratic Party and its regulatory agenda.

4. (philosophy) Of or relating to nominalism.
6. Insignificantly small.

   Synonym: trifling

   He gave me only a nominal sum for my services.

   • 2021 November 17, Andrew Mourant, “Okehampton: a new dawn for Dartmoor”, in RAIL, number 944, page 43:

     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.

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

   Antonym: effective

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

   the nominal yield of a nuclear weapon

8. (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.
9. (finance) Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation.
10. (grammar) Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.

    This sentence contains a nominal phrase.

11. (engineering) According to plan or design.

    Synonym: normal

    We'll just do a nominal flight check.

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

    • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 9:

      The slots are waiting. Waiting for hot pizza. And waiting. The Deliverator honks his horn. This is not a nominal outcome.

    • 1996 September, Dustin Browder, MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, spoken by Narrator (Carole Ruggier), Activision:

      Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal.

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

    Antonym: 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.

13. (statistics, of a variable) Having values whose order is insignificant.
14. (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.
    • 2015 November 26, Mosè Manni et al., “Relevant genetic differentiation among Brazilian populations of Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae)”, in ZooKeys, volume 540, →DOI:

      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.

• → Afrikaans: nominaal

nominal (plural nominals)

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

   This sentence contains two nominals.

4. (grammar) 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.)
   • 2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[2], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 12:

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

6. 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.

8. (UK, police jargon) A person listed in the Police National Computer database as having been convicted, cautioned or recently arrested.

• (grammar) noun, pronoun

• “nominal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “nominal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• nonmail

Learned borrowing from Latin nominālis.

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [nu.miˈnal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia, Northwestern) [no.miˈnal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

nominal m or f (masculine and feminine plural nominals)

1. nominal

• nominalment

• nom

• “nominal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “nominal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “nominal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “nominal”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From Latin nominalis. See there for more.

• IPA^(key): /nomiˈnæˀl/

nominal (neuter nominalt, plural and definite singular attributive nominale)

1. (linguistics) Relating to a word or construction which may function in nounlike manner; nominal

   Coordinate term: substantivisk

2. (finance) Relating to the nominal value or face value (as opposed to the real or market value); nominal

   Synonyms: nominel, pålydende

3. Something whose existence, value or function is rather theoretical or symbolic, and which does not necessarily correspond to a reality; nominal, formal, in name only

   Synonyms: formel, nominel, af navn

4. (statistics, of a variable) Having values whose order is insignificant; nominal

   Synonyms: nominel, pålydende

nominal n (singular definite nominalet, plural indefinite nominaler)

1. (linguistics) A word or construction which may function in a nounlike manner; a nominal, nominalisation

   Coordinate terms: nominalisering, substantivering, substantiv

2. (finance) Nominal value; face value

   Synonym: nominalværdi

• “nominal,1” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “nominal,2” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “nominal” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

• Nielsen, Peter Juul; Michael Herslund (10 June 2023), “Nominalisering”, in Den Store Danske‎^[3], archived from the original on 2 June 2023

Learned borrowing from Latin nominālis.

• IPA^(key): /nɔ.mi.nal/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

nominal (feminine nominale, masculine plural nominaux, feminine plural nominales)

1. nominal

nominal m (plural nominaux)

1. nominal

• nom
• classe nominale
• locution nominale
• valeur nominale

• → Dutch: nominaal
  • → Indonesian: nominal
  • → West Frisian: nominaal
• → Romanian: nominal

• “nominal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Latin nominalis.

• IPA^(key): /nomiˈnaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

nominal (strong nominative masculine singular nominaler, not comparable)

1. nominal

• Nominaldeklination
• Nominalflexion
• Nominalklammer
• Nominalphrase

• “nominal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[4] (in German)
• “nominal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

From Dutch nominaal, from French nominal, from Latin nominalis.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /noˈminal/ [noˈmi.nal]
• Rhymes: -inal
• Syllabification: no‧mi‧nal

nominal

1. nominal,
   1. existing in name only
   2. insignificantly small
   3. (grammar) of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun

• “nominal”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Learned borrowing from Latin nōminālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: no‧mi‧nal

nominal m or f (plural nominais, not comparable)

1. nominal

• nominalizar
• nominalmente

• nome

• “nominal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “nominal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French nominal, Latin nominalis.

• IPA^(key): /nomiˈnal/

nominal m or n (feminine singular nominală, masculine plural nominali, feminine/neuter plural nominale)

1. nominal

• nume
• nominalism
• nominaliza

Learned borrowing from Latin nominālis.

• IPA^(key): /nomiˈnal/ [no.miˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: no‧mi‧nal

nominal m or f (masculine and feminine plural nominales)

1. nominal

• “nominal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025