cardinality
1 synonym for cardinality, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — In set theory, the number of elements contained in a set.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
How to use cardinality
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
set the cardinality
cardinality of a set
one-to-many cardinality
high cardinality
cardinality estimation
The word belongs to specialist fields such as mathematics and database design, so it rarely appears in everyday speech.
Etymology
Cardinality comes from the Latin word cardinalitas. It can also be understood as the word cardinal with the suffix -ity added to it, turning the adjective into a noun describing a quantity or property.
Full origin of cardinality →Frequently asked questions
What does cardinality mean in maths?
It is the number of elements a set contains, so a set with five members has a cardinality of five.
What does cardinality mean in databases?
It describes how the rows of one table relate to the rows of another, for example one-to-one or one-to-many.
Can an infinite set have a cardinality?
Yes, mathematicians assign infinite sets a cardinal number too, though comparing different infinities is a more advanced topic.
