notional

Etymology

notion + -al

adj

1. Of, containing, or being a notion; mental or imaginary.
2. Speculative, theoretical, not the result of research.
   This paper proposes a notional Federated Identity Management (FIM) architecture.
3. (linguistics) Having descriptive value as opposed to a syntactic category.
4. (finance) Used to indicate an estimate or a reference amount
   Gold traded at $909.00 an ounce, up 0.2 percent from New York's notional close of $906.65 on Wednesday. March 11, 2009, “Gold inches up on bargain hunt, ETF hits record”, in Ninemsn
   Under the agreements, Harvard paid the banks fixed interest rates on a total notional amount of $3.52 billion in exchange for floating-rate payments from them. Mar 3, 2009, “Harvard Accepts Higher Debt Costs as Bankers Profit”, in Bloomberg
5. (informal) Full of ideas or imaginings.
   She knew what Pete would say if she told him about it — he would say she was getting notional; and she did not want Pete to think of her as a notional woman. Notional women sometimes had a hard time marrying unless they had money. 1995, Walter D. Edmonds, In the Hands of the Senecas, page 137

noun

1. A fake company used as a front in espionage.
   Numerous CIA notionals, created to counter Communist organizations in Western Europe during the Cold War years, remain active and unrevealed. 2012, Joseph C. Goulden, Peter Earnest, The Dictionary of Espionage: Spyspeak Into English, page 157