canonical

Pluralcanonicals

1. 1
   adjective

   Belonging to a canon, whether the accepted books of a scripture or any other recognized body of works.

   Scholars still debate why several early gospels were never accepted as canonical.

   The syllabus sticks to canonical novels and leaves little room for newer writers.

   Similarclassic, authoritative

   Oppositeapocryphal

   Note

   The word is canon plus -ical, through Medieval Latin canōnicālis, and this is the sense that stays closest to canon itself. Scripture is its classic setting: canonical books are the ones a church accepts as authoritative, and George Reynolds in 1732 describes early writings read in Christian assemblies "as Canonical Scripture." The same idea now stretches to any accepted body of works, such as the novels a syllabus treats as essential.

2. 2
   classic exampleadjective

   Being the typical or classic example of its kind.

   The 1929 crash remains the canonical example of a speculative bubble bursting.

   Her garage startup has become the canonical story told to new founders.

   Similarclassic, textbook, quintessential, archetypal, typical

3. 3
   official storyadjectiveslang

   Belonging to or related to the official canon of a fictional universe.

   Is it canonical that those two characters are siblings, or is that just a fan theory?

   The new movie makes an old comic-book storyline canonical at last.

   Similarcanon, official

   Note

   Fans use the word for what officially counts in a story world: whatever the creators' own books, films or episodes establish, as against fan theories and fan fiction, however popular. As slang it belongs to casual conversation and online discussion; in criticism or academic writing, the accepted-works meaning is the one readers will expect.

4. 4
   traditional wayadjective

   Following the recognized or orthodox rules.

   Purists insist on the canonical way of making carbonara: eggs, cheese, pork and pepper, and no cream.

   The judges wanted a canonical performance of the dance, with every step done as the rules prescribe.

   Similarorthodox, traditional, standard, conventional, accepted

   Oppositeunorthodox, unconventional

5. 5
   adjective

   Stated or used in its most basic form, the one that can be applied most directly.

   The theorem is much easier to apply once it is restated in its canonical form.

   Physics courses usually present the law in its canonical statement before adding corrections for friction.

   Similarstandard, basic

6. 6
   by church lawadjective

   In conformity with canon law, the body of law that governs a church.

   Lawyers for the diocese argued that the priest's dismissal had not been canonical.

   Rome confirmed that the election of the new abbot was fully canonical.

   Note

   Church lawyers use it as a test of validity: an election, a dismissal or a marriage is canonical when it meets the requirements canon law lays down, and uncanonical when it does not. For that reason it usually arrives inside a judgment, as in the dismissal was not canonical, rather than as a neutral description.

7. 7
   web addressnouncountable

   A URL in canonical form: the standard address chosen for a web page, especially one whose content also appears at other addresses.

   Set a canonical on each product page so that search engines index only one version.

   The audit found missing canonicals on half of the blog's posts.

   Note

   Web developers and search specialists use the noun as shorthand for a canonical URL, declared in a page's code to tell search engines which of several duplicate addresses is the real one. The aim is to keep ranking from being split between copies of the same content; Simon Kloostra's Joomla! 3 SEO and Performance (2015) names canonicals among Google's preferred fixes for duplicates.

8. 8
   adjective

   Expressed in the standard form agreed on for a mathematical object or a piece of data.

   Before the comparison, both paths are made canonical, so ./docs/../img and img are recognized as the same folder.

   Each expression is reduced until it is canonical, at which point two equal expressions look identical.

   Note

   Programmers and mathematicians choose a canonical form so that each object has exactly one way of being written; two things then count as equal when their canonical forms match. Software makes file paths or text canonical before comparing them, and mathematicians reduce expressions the same way. Compare the choice-free meaning, which concerns how a thing is picked out rather than how it is written.

9. 9
   natural choiceadjective

   Singled out from all others of its kind, so that it can be identified without making any arbitrary choice.

   Every vector space has a canonical map into its double dual, but matching it with its dual requires choosing a basis.

   The proof works because the bijection is canonical rather than built from an arbitrary ordering.

   Similarnatural

   Note

   In mathematics this is a claim about choices. A map or construction is canonical when the structure alone determines it, with no basis, coordinates or ordering picked along the way; one that needs such a choice is noncanonical. Samson Abramsky and Nikos Tzevelekos (2011) note that ordered pairs can be defined in set theory, but that in no sense is such a definition canonical.

10. 10
    musicadjective

    Written in the form of a musical canon, with the same melody taken up by successive voices.

    The second movement is canonical, with the violins echoing the flutes one bar later.

    She wrote a canonical setting of the hymn for four voices.

    Note

    A round is the plainest case: every voice sings the same tune, each entering a fixed distance behind the one before. Composers use the adjective for any passage built on that strict imitation, even when the later voice answers at a different pitch, and a movement can be canonical throughout or only in sections.

11. 11
    adjective

    Relating to an ecclesiastical chapter, the body of clergy who run a cathedral.

    The cathedral's canonical residences line the north side of the close.

    Disputes over canonical revenues divided the dean and the cathedral clergy for years.

    Note

    Here the adjective goes with canon as a title, a member of a cathedral's clergy: a canonical residence houses one of the canons, and canonical revenues or duties belong to the chapter. The shared root is all this sense has in common with the canon-law meaning, so read the noun it modifies before deciding which is meant.

12. 12
    priest's robesnounplural

    The formal robes worn by a priest.

    The bishop processed down the aisle in his canonicals, followed by two deacons.

    He changed out of his canonicals in the vestry and walked home in an ordinary coat.

    Similarvestments, robes

    Note

    Always plural: a priest appears in his canonicals, never in a canonical, and the word names the whole outfit rather than any single robe. It lends itself to irony. The Atlantic Monthly in 1857 has a clergyman startled out of his canonicals, and H. G. Wells in 1915 calls God the crowd's will dressed up in canonicals.

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