Also called ordinal numeral. any of the numbers that express degree, quality, or position in a series, as first, second, and third (distinguished from cardinal number).
2.
Mathematics. a symbol denoting both the cardinal number and the ordering of a given set, being identical for two ordered sets having elements that can be placed into one-to-one correspondence, the correspondence preserving the order of the elements.
Origin
1600-10
Examples from the web for ordinal number
Shows the ordinal number of the current page and the total number of pages in the plot file.
Students may also be asked to determine whether a quantifier should be a cardinal or ordinal number.
Count an ordered set of objects, using the ordinal number words first through twentieth.
British Dictionary definitions for ordinal number
ordinal number
noun
1.
a number denoting relative position in a sequence, such as first, second, thirdSometimes shortened to ordinal
2.
(logic, maths) a measure of not only the size of a set but also the order of its elements