A number that states how many of something. In "record 43 has 7 fields," the 7 is the cardinal number. Contrast with "ordinal number," which identifies a sequence such as "record 43." See cardinality.

There would have been 141, but Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot’s death on Nov. 25 reduced the number by one. In all, the Sacred College of Cardinals now has 255 members. The number of ...