Make Your Point > Archived Issues > NOMINAL
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If you have a s___cure, I'm jealous: you have a job and a paycheck, but you don't have to do any actual work. You have a nominal job: a job that's called a job but truly is not a job.
If you have a job you love, I'm happy for you: you have the s____ qua n_n of career satisfaction: the essence of it, the main component, the must-have, the without-which-not. Your work, and your achievements, aren't nominal; they're real, and they're substantial. So it's just the icing on the cake if you also earn more than a nominal hourly wage.
Today, as you've probably figured out, we're checking out all things nominal: things that exist only in name.
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make your point with...
"NOMINAL"
This word comes from Latin and literally means "having to do with a name."
In general, nominal things aren't real or substantial, even though their names make them sound real or substantial. For example, a nominal judge is called a judge but doesn't get to judge anything. A nominal cheese is called cheese, but it doesn't taste or smell like cheese and doesn't have any milk products in it.
And more specifically, nominal things like fees or amounts are so small that they don't even matter. In other words, they're "fees" by name, but they're not big enough to make a real impact on the people paying or receiving them.
Pronunciation:
NOM uh null
Part of speech:
Adjective: "a nominal rate of interest," "these nominal supporters."
Other forms:
The ones we'll use most are "nominally" and "nominality" (meaning a thing that's nominal, or the condition of being nominal).
Interestingly, this "nominality" can also mean "the idea that the names of things controls how we think about them."
And in philosophy, "nominalism" is the whole idea that, although we call different things by the same name, they aren't the same at all. So, call something "nominalist" or "nominalistic" when you mean that it focuses on names and terminology, ignoring true meanings or true qualities.
How to use it:
"Nominal" is a common word, and it's pretty serious.
Most often, we talk about nominal fees, rates, fines, and payments, meaning they're so small that they're basically just called fees and so on. You may need to charge someone a nickel, a dollar, or some other insignificant amount of money for the service you're providing or the violation you're acknowledging, for any number of reasons: maybe so that people take it seriously, or so they don't make a habit of doing it or requesting it.
Aside from that, the word "nominal" makes a great formal substitute for words like "so-called" and "self-styled," and it can even replace sarcastic quotation marks. (Compare the informal "He's the 'manager,' so pay him some 'respect'" to the more formal "He's a nominal manager, so we pay him nominal respect.") We talk about nominal supporters and opponents, nominal friends and allies, nominal enemies and competitors, nominal leaders and so on, meaning we're calling them that, but perhaps they really aren't our supporters, etc.
examples:
"The museum is free to visitors. However, charging a nominal admission is a route the museum may want to consider taking, especially if the commission decides to discontinue its appropriations."
— Letter to the editor, The News Courier, 17 August 2019
The quotation marks below seem to imply that this security guard is merely nominal. Or decorative:
(Credit for capturing the picture above goes to Bethany in Atlanta, who shared it with The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.)
has this page helped you understand "nominal"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "nominal" without saying "in name only" or "so-called."
try it out:
Writing for The Conversation, John P. Koch argues that today's presidential debates are merely nominal.
In true debates, Koch says, people engage meaningfully with each other, argue for and against ideas, and dive deeply into specifics. But in our televised debates these days, they don't. So they're not debates. They're "debates," or nominal debates.
Talk about something else you've noticed that fails to live up to its name, label, or title. Why would you call it nominal? How would it have to change for it become genuine or substantial?
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, we're playing "What's the Word?"
On Reddit, r/whatstheword is a community of about 55,000 members: folks who gather to help each other out when they can't think of a particular word. "It's on the tip of my tongue," they say. Or, "This word might not even exist. Help!"
In each issue this month, check out a post from the community, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase in question. We'll work our way from relatively easy to extremely hard questions as the month goes on.
From the previous issue: A community member asked, "When people get older and more experienced, when they've been around the block a few times, they tend to be less easy to move to outrage or to anger or to being excitable. They hear something that a young person would get upset about and they don't think 'let's get angry and loud;' they think 'Yeah, I know that issue, I've thought about it a lot, I suppose I can think of it from both sides, and it's frustrating but let's be calm about it and try to figure out a fix instead of flying off the handle and acting like a loon.' I always think it's a word like 'pedantic' but it's not. You hear it in phrases like 'I've become a lot more THIS WORD in my old age.' Can anyone get this word?"
Answer: Great suggestions included "mellow," "composed," and "tolerant," but the word the person was looking for was "pragmatic."
Try this today: A community member asked, "What's the word for when a rich or pretentious person sort of makes a noise as if they're better than you? Like a smug 'hmm.'"
I'll share the answer in the upcoming issue, but if you can't wait, you can view the whole original thread here.
review this word:
1. A near opposite of NOMINAL is
A. LIVE.
B. ACTUAL.
C. PSEUDONYMOUS.
2. They won the case, receiving nominal damages of _____.
A. one euro each
B. fifteen thousand dollars
C. handwritten letters of apology
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
If you have a s___cure, I'm jealous: you have a job and a paycheck, but you don't have to do any actual work. You have a nominal job: a job that's called a job but truly is not a job.
"NOMINAL" This word comes from Latin and literally means "having to do with a name."
"The museum is free to visitors. However, charging a nominal admission is a route the museum may want to consider taking, especially if the commission decides to discontinue its appropriations."
(Credit for capturing the picture above goes to Bethany in Atlanta, who shared it with The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.)
Explain the meaning of "nominal" without saying "in name only" or "so-called."
Writing for The Conversation, John P. Koch argues that today's presidential debates are merely nominal.
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of NOMINAL is
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. |