How to Use canonical in a Sentence

canonical

adjective

• The best way to think of this syncing system is that the server copy of a file is the canonical file.
  — Scott Gilbertson, Wired, 2 June 2020
• Each set of three bases in DNA can designate one of the 20 canonical amino acids.
  — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2017
• And just as there’s no doubting the canonical impact of the album, the same can be said for its cover.
  — Zachary Lipez, Washington Post, 14 June 2019
• Each involves a new cast in a new bar, and over the course of the evening, unexpected twists on a canonical text emerge.
  — Nicole Blackwood, chicagotribune.com, 6 June 2019
• What are your feelings about when canonical works of art come to be defined by their moral flaws?
  — David Marchese David Marchesephotograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 23 Nov. 2022
• The archer keeps a canonical story-style log of our campaign, which at this point is hundreds of pages long.
  — L.j. Kilgore, Ars Technica, 28 June 2020
• As recent newcomers to the Bay Area taco scene have proven, the idea of there being a canonical way to make a taco is kind of bunk.
  — Soleil Ho, SFChronicle.com, 6 Jan. 2020
• The most canonical of them even spawn their own subgenres.
  — Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 11 Sep. 2022
• Aliens: Vasquez is set to explore the canonical background of Vasquez, as well as the story of the children she was forced to leave behind.
  — Clark Collis, EW.com, 24 Mar. 2022
• Books by white authors became the canonical ones framing race as a form of caste.
  — Gaiutra Bahadur, The New Republic, 25 Nov. 2020
• The days are past when the Whitney Biennial formed the canonical roundup of American art of the day.
  — New York Times, 23 Mar. 2022
• Although the show was a Broadway hit in 1976, the form didn’t become common, even as the text became canonical.
  — New York Times, 8 June 2022
• In the original, this canonical song is performed by Tony and Maria with all the teenage angst of an episode of Euphoria.
  — Erik Maza, Town & Country, 22 Feb. 2022
• Spock was unable to join Michael and the rest of the crew on that journey, if for no other reason than to preserve the canonical timeline.
  — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 8 Sep. 2020
• The canonical image of the Summer of Love may be most useful as a cautionary tale.
  — James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 19 Feb. 2021
• There are thoughts like that for many of the characters and especially the canonical ones.
  — Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2024
• The canonical Swadesh lists have between a hundred and two hundred and fifteen items.
  — Philip Ball, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2021
• Muse-ing doesn’t get much more canonical than that one-two shot, on top of the fact that her clothes on Richards’ frame secured him fashion status, too.
  — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2024
• Most people don’t know this about him, and early translations of his work (most of which are canonical) don’t play this up at all.
  — Gabriel Roth, Slate Magazine, 16 Feb. 2017
• Such nice things cannot be said for BananaDrama’s performance of the same now-canonical tune.
  — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 11 Feb. 2021
• The canonical menu: eggs every which way, pancakes, burgers and melts.
  — Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2022
• Think about the canonical moving pictures of the civil-rights movement.
  — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2018
• The church, which claims Ukraine as part of its canonical territory, is closely aligned with the Kremlin.
  — James Marson, WSJ, 28 Jan. 2022
• While the covers were intended to make canonical works more...
  — Adam Kirsch, WSJ, 20 Feb. 2020
• Since the pandemic, no shows seem to be a candidate for canonical status — or even a Kinky Boots–length run.
  — Boris Kachka, Vulture, 16 May 2024
• The non-canonical nature of Loverwatch means that the game is free to explore ideas like this without being bound to the lore or even logic of the full game itself.
  — WIRED, 13 Feb. 2023
• The missing piece ultimately tells us more than the canonical body could ever hope to say.
  — Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2021
• The big one is that the ideal canonical format for storing data long-term is plaintext.
  — Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 24 June 2024
• Kennan’s message became the canonical text for those who tried to understand the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.
  — Odd Arne Westad, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2019
• To be clear, Charli isn’t the first canonical nonbinary character in Marvel Comics history.
  — Abby Monteil, Them, 14 Oct. 2024

Last Updated: 21 Dec 2024