CARDINAL

Cardinal

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, an ecclesiastical prince, and usually an ordained bishop. Cardinals are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or in groups to the pope if he requests their counsel. Most cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Cardinal (Catholicism)
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cardinal

Noun

  1. A number indicating quantity, or the size of a set, e.g., one, two, three.
  2. A word used to represent a cardinal number; a cardinal numeral.
  3. An official in the , ranking only below the and the patriarchs. (See .)
  4. A songbird of the finch family,
  5. Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae. (See .)
  6. A shade of scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock.
  7. A woman's short cloak with a hood.
  8. Mulled red wine.

Adjective

  1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
    a cardinal rule
  2. Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
    a cardinal mark
  3. Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
  4. Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock).


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: cardinal
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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