quadral

UK/ˈkwɒdɹəl/

quadral noun: a grammatical number referring to four (or more) things.

Noun

quadral (countable and uncountable, plural quadrals)

A grammatical number referring to four (or more) things.
- These are the three best claims for quadrals. There are several false trails in the literature, that is, suggestions of other Austronesian languages with quadrals, which turn out in fact to have four number values not five.2000, Greville G. Corbett, Number, page 30
- Likewise, expression of quadral is accomplished in the same way by establishing specific locations or points in signing space.2003, Merilin Miljan, “Number in Estonian Sign Language”, in TRAMES, volume 7, number 3, page 207
A set of points with all the combinatorial properties of a quadric (a quadric being the set of points of PG(n, q) whose coordinates satisfy a quadratic equation).
- "A polynomial P(x₁, ..., xₙ is called quadral if it splits into a product of quadratic (or linear) functions in the complex field of coefficients."1952, American Mathematical Society, “Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society”, in Journal of the American Mathematical Society, page 184
- If we wished to divide the quadrals into classes, there are obviously several ways in which it could be done, all of them arbitrary. The arbitrariness arises because the points exhibit no natural clustering.1984, E. C. Pielou, The interpretation of ecological data: a primer, page 20
(rhetoric) A set of four phrases, separated by pauses when speaking or commas when writing.
- The first instinctive step in revising written matter looks to an effecting of quadrals; any later revision aims at a perfecting of the rhythma.1925, John Hubert Scott, Rhythmic prose
- thanks to the rhythma,
  in dividing correctly
  many simple quadrals,
  in more involved sentences
  our arrangement shows regularly
  these simple quadrals
  expanding into "periods,"1932, John Hubert Scott, Zilpha Emma Chandler, Phrasal patterns in English prose, page 268
A foursome.
- I like to call 4-person interactions and relational systems 'quadrals' (845—846). Their potentially visible occurrence in encounter type groups probably varies widely, and is not often discriminated unless in groups literally composed of couples.1998, Godfrey T Barrett-Lennard, Carl Rogers' Helping System: Journey & Substance, →ISBN, page 162

Adjective

quadral (not comparable)

Referring to four (or more) things; of, in or relating to the quadral grammatical number.
- […] in Konomala, Patpatar, Tolai, Kandas, Duke of York and Siar of New Ireland, these quadral forms have replaced the original plurals.1988, Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, page 101
- In some languages, such as Kenyah, a true quadral number also occurs in the pronoun system.2009, Robert Blust, The Austronesian Languages, page 64
Of or relating to quadral polynomials.

Examples of quadral in a sentence

Another point is that, judging from the existing descriptions, true trials are extremely rare and true quadrals do not exist.2009, Michael Cysouw, The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking, page 203:
The number categories of JSL pronouns are singular, dual, trial, quadral and plural.2015, Keren Cumberbatch, “Jamaican Sign Language”, in Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook, page 517:
In several cases, plural pronouns clearly derive from historical trial and quadral forms.2014, David Christopher Kamholz, Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and Change in South-Halmahera-West New Guinea, page 120:

Forms of quadral

plural	quadrals
alternative form	quadrual
alternative form	quatral

Origin of quadral

From New Latin quadrālis, from quadru- (“four-”) + -ālis.

Questions about quadral

What does quadral mean?: Quadral means a grammatical number referring to four (or more) things.
How do you use quadral in a sentence?: Another point is that, judging from the existing descriptions, true trials are extremely rare and true quadrals do not exist.
What part of speech is quadral?: Quadral can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce quadral?: Quadral is pronounced /ˈkwɒdɹəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of quadral?: The plural of quadral is quadrals.

Words near quadral in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: quadral (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “quadral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quadral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.