nominal. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

nominal

SYLLABICATION:	nom·i·nal
PRONUNCIATION:	nm-nl
ADJECTIVE:	1a. Of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names. b. Assigned to or bearing a person's name: nominal shares. 2. Existing in name only. 3. Philosophy Of or relating to nominalism. 4. Insignificantly small; trifling: a nominal sum. 5. Business a. Of, relating to, or being the amount or face value of a sum of money or a stock certificate, for example, and not the purchasing power or market value. b. Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation. 6. Grammar Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun. 7. Aerospace & Engineering According to plan or design: a nominal flight check.
NOUN:	Grammar A word or group of words functioning as a noun.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English nominalle, of nouns, from Latin nminlis, of names, from nmen, nmin-, name. See n-men- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	nomi·nal·ly —ADVERB


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.