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# ordinal

«ordinal» in Mova's school dictionary: **An ordinal number shows the place or position of…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (ordinal); noun (an ordinal, ordinals)

### meaning for a pupil

(maths) An ordinal number shows the place or position of something in order: first, second, third, fourth and so on. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and English: ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd) vs cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3). Used for places in a race, floors of buildings, positions in a line. Phrases: ordinal number, ordinal position.

### examples

- First, second and third are ordinal numbers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x1)
- She came 3rd in the race; "third" is an ordinal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x2)
- The ordinal of five is fifth. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x3)
- Our flat is on the fourth floor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x4)
- Write the ordinals 1st to 10th in words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x5)
- He was the 21st person in the queue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/#x6)

### note

Ordinals tell position; cardinals tell how many. Short forms: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th; then -th, but 21st, 22nd, 23rd, while 11th, 12th, 13th use -th. Spelling traps: fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth. For numbers: if Sam is 4th in a line, 3 people are in front of him.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ordinal» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/ordinal/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.