CARDINAL

Scrabble

WWF

C(3) A(1) R(1) D(2) I(1) N(1) A(1) L(1)

NWL/TWL ✓ Collins ✓ WWF ✓

Definition

noun

One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope and the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related.

adjective

Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
“a cardinal rule”
Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
“a cardinal mark”
Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.

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