Definition of "nominal"

At Edinburgh he passed eighteen months in nominal attendance on lectures, and picked up some superficial information about chemistry and natural history.

1856 February, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Oliver Goldsmith, republished in 1865, The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, page 300

In contrast to the traditionally conservative or libertarian ethos of the entrepreneurial class, the oligarchy is increasingly allied with the nominally populist Democratic Party and its regulatory agenda.

2013 October 5, Joel Kotkin, “California’s New Feudalism Benefits a Few at the Expense of the Multitude”, in The Daily Beast‎

In the summer, DCC [Devon County Council] transferred ownership of the northern part of the station to NR for a nominal £1, enabling it (and the platform) to become part of the rail network.

2021 November 17, Andrew Mourant, “Okehampton: a new dawn for Dartmoor”, in RAIL, number 944, page 43

The slots are waiting. Waiting for hot pizza. And waiting. The Deliverator honks his horn. This is not a nominal outcome.

1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, page 9

Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal.

1996 September, Dustin Browder, MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, spoken by Narrator (Carole Ruggier), Activision

Comparisons of the costs of the Diablo Canyon plant with other nuclear power plants can be misleading because the available cost data are in nominal dollars and therefore include the toll of inflation over the construction periods.

1991, Richard J. Gilbert, Regulatory Choices: A Perspective on Developments in Energy Policy, page 267

This simple process allows us to convert nominal dollars into inflation-adjusted real dollars.

2001, Erich A. Helfert, Financial Analysis: Tools and Techniques: A Guide for Managers, page 467

Since then, a good deal of research has documented and concluded that the nominal species A. fraterculus actually comprises an unresolved complex of cryptic species.

2015 November 26, Mosè Manni et al., “Relevant genetic differentiation among Brazilian populations of Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae)”, in ZooKeys, volume 540

A considerable number of derived nominals, especially thematic nouns, also exhibited o-grade roots.

2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 12