The many meanings of "nominal"
I work in software in a technology field, and hear the word nominal tossed around quite a bit. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding which meaning people are intending. Maybe I have a mental block, but this word really gets me. For example, Dictionary.com gives as many as ten definitions!
adjective
being such in name only; so-called; putative: a nominal treaty; the nominal head of the country.
(of a price, consideration, etc.) named as a mere matter of form, being trifling in comparison with the actual value; minimal.
of, relating to, or constituting a name or names.
Grammar. of, relating to, or producing a noun or nouns: a nominal suffix. functioning as or like a noun.
assigned to a person by name: nominal shares of stock.
containing, bearing, or giving a name or names.
(of money, income, or the like) measured in an amount rather than in real value: Nominal wages have risen 50 percent, but real wages are down because of inflation.
Aerospace. performing or achieved within expected, acceptable limits; normal and satisfactory: The mission was nominal throughout.
Slang. done smoothly as expected: The space shot was nominal, proceeding without a hitch.
noun
- Grammar. a word or group of words functioning as a noun.
The usage I'm seeing it in right now is “When the system enters this mode, these portions of it are active and power consumption is nominal.”
I think the author intended meaning #8 or possibly meaning #2. I'm leaning towards #8.
I can't just ask the author of the paper which meaning they meant, so which would it be?
In the future when I hear someone use the word nominal, I intend to pull out my list of synonyms and ask them which one they mean (if any!).
Solution 1:
"Nominal" as used in engineering typical means pretty much #8 in your list.
That is, if a component is rated as consuming 100 watts, and it is actually consuming something close to that, then the power consumption is nominal. "As named" or "as expected".