canonical

Pluralcanonicals

1. 1
   adjective

   Included in an official, accepted list of holy books or of other writings.

   Some old writings were left out of the Bible because they were not canonical.

   Our teacher only gives us canonical books to read.

   Similarclassic, authoritative

   Oppositeapocryphal

   Note
2. 2
   classic exampleadjective

   Being the most typical example of something.

   For many people, pizza is the canonical party food.

   That old diner is the canonical small-town restaurant.

   Similarclassic, textbook, quintessential, archetypal, typical

3. 3
   official storyadjectiveslang

   Part of the official story of a made-up world, like a TV series or a book series.

   The writer said the deleted scene is not canonical.

   Fans argued for weeks about whether the video game is canonical.

   Similarcanon, official

   Note
4. 4
   traditional wayadjective

   Done by the usual rules that everyone accepts.

   We played chess the canonical way, with no special house rules.

   The judges only accept the canonical way of tying the knot, step by step as the rule book says.

   Similarorthodox, traditional, standard, conventional, accepted

   Oppositeunorthodox, unconventional

5. 5
   adjective

   Put in the simplest, most basic way, so that it is easy to use.

   The teacher wrote the rule on the board in its canonical form.

   Scientists like to state a law in canonical terms, as simply as it can be put.

   Similarstandard, basic

6. 6
   by church lawadjective

   Following the laws of the church.

   The church said the wedding was not canonical, so it did not count.

   The new bishop was chosen in a canonical way.

   Note
7. 7
   web addressnouncountable

   The main web address chosen for a page that can be reached at more than one address.

   The site's canonical tells search engines which address to show.

   We added canonicals to all our product pages.

   Note
8. 8
   adjective

   In math or computing, written in the standard form used for things of its kind.

   The program makes every file name canonical before it saves it.

   The answer is only marked right if the fraction is canonical.

   Note
9. 9
   natural choiceadjective

   In math, being the one natural choice of its kind, not one that someone had to pick.

   There is no canonical way to choose one point on a circle.

   The map that sends each number to itself is canonical, because nobody has to choose anything.

   Similarnatural

   Note
10. 10
    musicadjective

    In music, written so that one voice starts a tune and other voices copy it a little later.

    Our class sang a canonical song, with each group starting the tune a little later.

    In the canonical part of the song, the boys sing the same tune two beats after the girls.

    Note
11. 11
    adjective

    Having to do with the group of priests who run a cathedral.

    The priests lived in canonical houses next to the cathedral.

    The dean called a canonical meeting about the broken bells.

    Note
12. 12
    priest's robesnounplural

    The formal robes that a priest wears.

    The old priest arrived at the wedding in his full canonicals.

    You could tell he was a priest by his canonicals.

    Similarvestments, robes

    Note

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