canon

Meanings

Plural: canons

Noun

• a rule or especially body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field or art or philosophy
  • "the neoclassical canon"
  • "canons of polite society"
• a priest who is a member of a cathedral chapter
• a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall
• a contrapuntal piece of music in which a melody in one part is imitated exactly in other parts
• a complete list of saints that have been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church
• a collection of books accepted as holy scripture especially the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired
• A generally accepted principle; a rule.
• A generally accepted principle; a rule.
• a formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art.
• A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field.
• The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic.
• A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon.
• A religious law or body of law decreed by the church.
• A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church.
• In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order.
• A piece of music in which the same melody is played by different voices, but beginning at different times; a round.
• A rent or stipend payable at some regular time, generally annual, e.g., canon frumentarius
• Those sources, especially including literary works, which are considered part of the main continuity regarding a given fictional universe; (metonymic) these sources' content.
• Alternative form of cannon (“rolled and filleted loin of meat”).
• A large size of type formerly used for printing the church canons, standardized as 48-point.
• The part of a bell by which it is suspended; the ear or shank of a bell.
• A type of clergymember serving a cathedral or collegiate church.
• A canon regular, a member of any of several Roman Catholic religious orders.
• Alternative spelling of qanun.
• Alternative spelling of cannon (“weapon”).
• Alternative spelling of cannon (“a carom in billiards”).
• Obsolete spelling of canyon.

Adj

• Clipping of canonical.

Synonyms

canyon, French canon

Antonyms

non-canon