notional

adjective no·tion·al \ ˈnō-shnəl , -shə-nᵊl \

Definition of notional

1 :theoretical, speculative

2 :existing in the mind only :imaginary

3 :given to foolish or fanciful moods or ideas

4 a :of, relating to, or being a notion or idea :conceptual

b (1) :presenting an idea of a thing, action, or quality

has is notional in he has luck, relational in he has gone

(2) :of or representing what exists or occurs in the world of things as distinguished from syntactic categories

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notionality

play \ˌnō-shə-ˈna-lə-tē\ noun

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notionally

play \ˈnō-shnə-lē, -shə-nᵊl-ē\ adverb

See notional defined for English-language learners

Examples of notional in a Sentence

The notional earnings of the company were close to the actual ones.
she has a notional understanding of romantic love but no actual experience of being in love

Recent Examples of notional from the Web

Despite the lowest jobless rate in 16 years (4.3%) inflation remains stuck at 1.4%, well below the Fed’s notional 2% target.

— alan murray, Fortune, "A Crisis of Leadership: CEO Daily, Thursday 17th August," 17 Aug. 2017
Options traders see plenty of upside for the euro: The total notional amount of large euro calls bought last week was about seven times the tally for euro puts, according to DTCC data.

— lananh nguyen, Bloomberg.com, "Dollar Bears' Case Grows Stronger as Wagers on Fed Hikes Fade," 16 July 2017
Derivatives worth a notional value of close to 4.5 trillion rupees ($70 billion) are traded daily on the NSE, compared with a total of about 270 billion rupees of stocks on both exchanges.

— ameya karve, Bloomberg.com, "Dual-Listed Stocks an Accidental Insurance for India's Glitches," 16 July 2017
For the past 40 years constitutionalists have worried that Britain is turning into a presidential regime, with the prime minister sucking ever more power into Downing Street and riding roughshod over notional checks and balances.

— The Economist, "BagehotNobody is really in charge of Britain," 13 July 2017
Chastened, Ingels and the Institution are backing away from the swaggering design, claiming that it was only ever meant to be a notional representation of some basic technical solutions.

— justin davidson, Smithsonian, "Bjarke Ingels Makes the Impossible Concrete," 24 May 2017
Sketch Released The Air Force has released a notional sketch of the stealth aircraft, cost goals per plane and the names of top subcontractors.

— anthony capaccio, Bloomberg.com, "Air Force B-21 Bomber's Secrecy to Be Reviewed by Inspector General," 15 May 2017
At the end of 2016, GM held derivatives not designated as hedges with $47.7 billion in total notional value, a measure of the amount covered when the hedge is triggered.

— tatyana shumsky, WSJ, "FASB Proposal Looks to Trim ‘Hedge Accounting’ Requirements," 27 Mar. 2017
Our takeaways: Mr. Trump and his fellow speakers over four days and nights did not pivot, did not shift, did not seek the notional sweet center of American public life.

— nicholas confessore, New York Times, "G.O.P. Convention Day 4 Takeaways: It’s Donald Trump’s Party," 21 July 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'notional.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.