canonical

The real deal; a piece that is widely recognized as a genuine member of the body of work (oeuvre) of a given artist/writer/composer; a standard by which all others are compared.

I just finished reading the "canonical list of auto plurals" on manofleisure.us

by khiddy June 2, 2004

canonical

The standard form of a mathmematical equation that can be written in many ways, making it easier to compare to other forms of the same equation.

The canonical sum of products form for representing the boolean function OR is simply A + B

by mkalo June 3, 2004

canonical

(1) In agreement with the religious law.
(2) In mathematics, the obvious or natural choice.

(1) Canonical Investiture is the act by which a suzerain granted a fief to his vassal.
(2) Let f be the canonical map between X and Y....

by Steve M June 4, 2004

canonical

someone or something that would be really cool to launch out of a canon.

Yo, that chicken is very canonical.

by shane stahl June 3, 2004

canonical

Something an obsessed Dr Who fan can pretend is an episode of a television programmes which stopped being made years ago.

Of course "Worzel Gummidge" is canonical.

by kd June 3, 2004

Canonical

The company that made Ubuntu.

Canonical made the popular Linux distribution known as Ubuntu

by SteamOS February 9, 2021

canonical example

An example that follows a principle or rule, which can be in religion, math, music, science, etc., and refers to something reduced to its most basic form.

My professor explained that a gene can become an oncogene by a point mutation that causes the gene to always be turned on. He used Ras as a canonical example of this idea because one point mutation in the Ras gene can result in it being constitutively turned on and leading to cancer.

by Marweezyyyyy December 14, 2020