canonical
adjective
ca·non·i·cal
kə-ˈnä-ni-kəl 
1
: of, relating to, or forming a canon
canonical scriptures
2
: conforming to a general rule or acceptable procedure : orthodox
His proposals were generally accepted as canonical.
3
: of or relating to a clergyman who is a canon
4
: reduced to the canonical form
a canonical matrix
Examples of canonical in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The canonical work of Edward Curtis established the tragic view and elegiac rhetoric of Native people as noble savages unassimilable to Progress and hence destined for cultural, if not biological, extinction.
—
Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Only his near contemporary, the American modernist poet Wallace Stevens (who survived into old age), who weirdly enough also was a lawyer for an insurance company, rivals Kafka in terms of the inverse proportion of literary originality and canonical significance to dullness of life story.
—Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
The original 2012 version is a five-minute strummed reminiscence that was never released as a single; the now-canonical version, released in 2021, is 10 minutes long.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Living systems are canonical examples of open systems, using energy from their environments to maintain themselves in the statistically surprising condition of being alive.
—Anil Seth, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for canonical
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Only his near contemporary, the American modernist poet Wallace Stevens (who survived into old age), who weirdly enough also was a lawyer for an insurance company, rivals Kafka in terms of the inverse proportion of literary originality and canonical significance to dullness of life story.
—Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
The original 2012 version is a five-minute strummed reminiscence that was never released as a single; the now-canonical version, released in 2021, is 10 minutes long.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Living systems are canonical examples of open systems, using energy from their environments to maintain themselves in the statistically surprising condition of being alive.
—Anil Seth, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for canonical
Cite this Entry
“Canonical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canonical. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
canonical
adjective
ca·non·i·cal
kə-ˈnän-i-kəl
1
: relating to or allowed by church law
2
: following a general rule or accepted procedure
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share