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adjective

cardinal

of central and fundamental importance, on which everything else depends

In a sentence

Six example sentences with cardinal, each labelled with its topic.

  • The cardinal rule of the raid is that nobody pulls the boss before the healers are in position, whatever the chat says.

    Gaming

  • Keeping inflation expectations anchored became the central bank's cardinal aim, with every other target ranked beneath it.

    Economics

  • The founder's cardinal mistake was hiring twelve salespeople before a single customer had renewed, and the cash ran out by spring.

    Startups

  • Plato named four cardinal virtues, and every later school treated them as the base on which the rest depended.

    Philosophy

  • The cardinal rule of evidence is that the accused need prove nothing, and every procedure follows from it.

    Law

  • The cardinal principle of the defense is to protect the paint, and every rotation is built around that.

    Basketball

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Found in these word lists

Found in 5 published word listsRecognized

Each source is a published word list that contains cardinal. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.

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