canonical

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: ca=non=i=cal

CIDE DICTIONARY

canonical, a. [L. canonicus, LL. canonicalis, fr. L. canon: cf. F. canonique. See canon.].

•  Of or pertaining to a canon; established by, or according to, a canon or canons.  Hallam.  [1913 Webster]
•  Appearing in a Biblical canon; as, a canonical book of the Christian New Testament.  [PJC]
•  Accepted as authoritative; recognized.  [PJC]
•  In its standard form, usually also the simplest form; -- of an equation or coordinate.  [PJC]
•  Reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality; as, a canonical syllable pattern. Opposite of nonstandard.  [WordNet 1.5]
•  Pertaining to or resembling a musical canon.  [PJC]

Canonical books, or Canonical Scriptures, those books which are declared by the canons of the church to be of divine inspiration; -- called collectively the canon. The Roman Catholic Church holds as canonical several books which Protestants reject as apocryphal. -- Canonical epistles, an appellation given to the epistles called also general or catholic. See Catholic epistles, under Canholic. -- Canonical form (Math.), the simples or most symmetrical form to which all functions of the same class can be reduced without lose of generality. -- Canonical hours, certain stated times of the day, fixed by ecclesiastical laws, and appropriated to the offices of prayer and devotion; also, certain portions of the Breviary, to be used at stated hours of the day. In England, this name is also given to the hours from 8 a. m. to 3 p. m. (formerly 8 a. m. to 12 m.) before and after which marriage can not be legally performed in any parish church. -- Canonical letters, letters of several kinds, formerly given by a bishop to traveling clergymen or laymen, to show that they were entitled to receive the communion, and to distinguish them from heretics. -- Canonical life, the method or rule of living prescribed by the ancient clergy who lived in community; a course of living prescribed for the clergy, less rigid than the monastic, and more restrained that the secular. -- Canonical obedience, submission to the canons of a church, especially the submission of the inferior clergy to their bishops, and of other religious orders to their superiors. -- Canonical punishments, such as the church may inflict, as excommunication, degradation, penance, etc. -- Canonical sins (Anc. Church.), those for which capital punishment or public penance decreed by the canon was inflicted, as idolatry, murder, adultery, heresy.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

canonical, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 a according to or ordered by canon law. b included in the canon of Scripture.
2 authoritative, standard, accepted.
3 of a cathedral chapter or a member of it.
4 Mus. in canon form.
--n. (in pl.) the canonical dress of the clergy.

Idiom

canonical hours Eccl. the times fixed for a formal set of prayers or for the celebration of marriage.

Derivative

canonically adv.

Etymology

med.L canonicalis (as CANONIC)

THESAURUS

canonical

Biblical, Christian, Gospel, Mariological, Mosaic, New-Testament, Old-Testament, abbatial, abbatical, accepted, apocalyptic, apostolic, approved, archiepiscopal, authentic, authoritative, binding, canonic, capitular, capitulary, churchly, clerical, confessional, conventional, correct, creedal, customary, dictated, didactic, divine, doctrinal, doctrinary, dogmatic, ecclesiastic, episcopal, episcopalian, evangelic, evangelical, evangelistic, faithful, firm, formulary, gospel, hard and fast, inspired, instructive, literal, mandatory, ministerial, of the faith, official, orthodox, orthodoxical, pastoral, physicotheological, preceptive, prelatial, prelatic, prescribed, prescript, prescriptive, priest-ridden, priestish, priestly, proper, prophetic, rabbinic, received, regulation, religious, revealed, revelational, right, rubric, sacerdotal, sanctioned, scriptural, sound, standard, statutory, textual, textuary, theological, theopneustic, traditional, traditionalistic, true, true-blue, ultramontane

ROGET THESAURUS

canonical

Conformity

N conformity, conformance, observance, habituation, naturalization, conventionality, agreement, example, instance, specimen, sample, quotation, exemplification, illustration, case in point, object lesson, elucidation, standard, model, pattern, rule, nature, principle, law, order of things, normal state, natural state, ordinary state, model state, normal condition, natural condition, ordinary condition, model condition, standing dish, standing order, Procrustean law, law of the Medes and Persians, hard and fast rule, conformable to rule, regular, according to regulation, according to rule, according to Hoyle, according to Cocker, according to Gunter, en regle, selon les regles, well regulated, orderly, symmetric, conventional, of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence, in the natural order of things, ordinary, common, habitual, usual, everyday, workaday, in the order of the day, naturalized, typical, normal, nominal, formal, canonical, orthodox, sound, strict, rigid, positive, uncompromising, Procrustean, secundum artem, shipshape, technical, exempIe, illustrative, in point, conformably, by rule, agreeably to, in conformity with, in accordance with, in keeping with, according to, consistently with, as usual, ad instar, instar omnium, more solito, more-majorum, for the sake of conformity, as a matter of course, of course, pro forma, for form's sake, by the card, invariably, for example, exempli gratia, e, g, inter alia, among other things, for instance, cela va sans dire, ex pede Herculem, noscitur a sociis, ne e quovis ligno Mercurius fiat, they are happy men whose natures sort with their v, The nail that sticks up hammered down, Tall poppy syndrome, Stick your neck out and it may get cut off.

Judeo-Christian Revelation

N Judeo-christian revelation, revelation, inspiration, afflatus, theophany, theopneusty, Word, Word of God, Scripture, the Scriptures, the Bible, Holy Writ, Holy Scriptures, inspired writings, Gospel, Old Testament, Septuagint, Vulgate, Pentateuch, Octateuch, the Law, the Jewish Law, the Prophets, major Prophets, minor Prophets, Hagiographa, Hagiology, Hierographa, Apocrypha, New Testament, Gospels, Evangelists, Acts, Epistles, Apocalypse, Revelations, Talmud, Mishna, Masorah, prophet, evangelist, apostle, disciple, saint, the Fathers, the Apostolical Fathers, Holy Men of old, inspired penmen, scriptural, biblical, sacred, prophetic, evangelical, evangelistic, apostolic, apostolical, inspired, theopneustic, theophneusted, apocalyptic, ecclesiastical, canonical, textuary.

Churchdom

N church, churchdom, ministry, apostleship, priesthood, prelacy, hierarch, church government, christendom, pale of the church, clericalism, sacerdotalism, episcopalianism, ultramontanism, theocracy, ecclesiology, ecclesiologist, priestcraft, odium theologicum, monachism, monachy, monasticism, monkhood, pontificate, primacy, archbishopric, archiepiscopacy, prelacy, bishopric, bishopdom, episcopate, episcopacy, see, diocese, deanery, stall, canonry, canonicate, prebend, prebendaryship, benefice, incumbency, glebe, advowson, living, cure, rectorship, vicariate, vicarship, deaconry, deaconship, curacy, chaplain, chaplaincy, chaplainship, cardinalate, cardinalship, abbacy, presbytery, holy orders, ordination, institution, consecration, induction, reading in, preferment, translation, presentation, popedom, the Vatican, the apostolic see, religious sects, council, conclave, convocation, synod, consistory, chapter, vestry, sanhedrim, conge d'elire, ecclesiastical courts, consistorial court, court of Arches, ecclesiastical, ecclesiological, clerical, sacerdotal, priestly, prelatical, pastoral, ministerial, capitular, theocratic, hierarchical, archiepiscopal, episcopal, episcopalian, canonical, monastic, monachal, monkish, abbatial, abbatical, Anglican, pontifical, papal, apostolic, Roman, Popish, ultramontane, priest-ridden.