ordinary

American  

[awr-dn-er-ee] / ˈɔr dnˌɛr i /

adjective

1. of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional.

   One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.

   Antonyms:

   exceptional, unusual, extraordinary

2. plain or undistinguished.

   ordinary clothes.

3. somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.

4. customary; usual; normal.

   We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.

   Synonyms:

   accustomed, regular

5. Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. common, vulgar, or disreputable.

6. (of jurisdiction) immediate, as contrasted with something that is delegated.

7. (of officials) belonging to the regular staff or the fully recognized class.

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noun

• ordinaries
  plural

1. the commonplace or average condition, degree, etc..

   ability far above the ordinary.

2. something regular, customary, or usual.

3. Ecclesiastical.

   1. an order or form for divine service, especially that for saying Mass.

   2. the service of the Mass exclusive of the canon.

4. History/Historical. a member of the clergy appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death.

5. English Ecclesiastical Law. a bishop, archbishop, or other ecclesiastic or his deputy, in his capacity as an ex officio ecclesiastical authority.

6. (in some U.S. states) a judge of a court of probate.

7. British. (in a restaurant or inn) a complete meal in which all courses are included at one fixed price, as opposed to à la carte service.

8. a restaurant, public house, or dining room serving all guests and customers the same standard meal or fare.

9. penny-farthing.

10. Heraldry.

    1. any of the simplest and commonest charges, usually having straight or broadly curved edges.

    2. honorable ordinary.

idioms

1. in ordinary, in regular service.

   a physician in ordinary to the king.

2. out of the ordinary,

   1. exceptional; unusual.

      Having triplets is certainly out of the ordinary.

   2. exceptionally good; unusually good.

      The food at this restaurant is truly out of the ordinary.

ordinary British  

/ ˈɔːdənrɪ /

adjective

1. of common or established type or occurrence

2. familiar, everyday, or unexceptional

3. uninteresting or commonplace

4. having regular or ex officio jurisdiction

   an ordinary judge

5. maths (of a differential equation) containing two variables only and derivatives of one of the variables with respect to the other

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noun

1. a common or average situation, amount, or degree (esp in the phrase out of the ordinary )

2. a normal or commonplace person or thing

3. civil law a judge who exercises jurisdiction in his own right

4. (usually capital) an ecclesiastic, esp a bishop, holding an office to which certain jurisdictional powers are attached

5. RC Church

   1. the parts of the Mass that do not vary from day to day Compare proper

   2. a prescribed form of divine service, esp the Mass

6. the US name for penny-farthing

7. heraldry any of several conventional figures, such as the bend, the fesse, and the cross, commonly charged upon shields

8. history a clergyman who visited condemned prisoners before their death

9. obsolete

   1. a meal provided regularly at a fixed price

   2. the inn providing such meals

10. (used esp in titles) in regular service or attendance

    physician in ordinary to the sovereign

ordinary More Idioms  

1. see out of the ordinary.

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Usage

What does ordinary mean? Ordinary means usual, normal, or of no special quality. Sometimes, the word is used in a negative way to mean somewhat inferior, below average, or just plain—in much the same way as the word mediocre. Describing something as ordinary usually means that it’s very basic or commonplace—there’s nothing special or unusual about it. An ordinary day is one in which nothing unexpected happens. You could describe a person as ordinary to mean that they’re normal, as in People treat me like a celebrity, but I’m just an ordinary guy. But using ordinary to describe a person can also be an insult, as in I don’t know what you see in him—he’s so ordinary.  Ordinary can also be used as a noun (especially in the ordinary) referring to the common or usual state or condition. This is how the word is used in the phrase out of the ordinary, which means unusual, uncommon, or exceptional. Example: He was so ordinary it was almost suspicious—no one’s that normal!

Synonym Usage

See common.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ordinariness
  noun
• quasi-ordinary
  adjective
• superordinary
  adjective
• unordinary
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ordinaries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ordinary

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ordinarie (noun and adjective), from Latin ordinārius “regular, of the usual order,” equivalent to ordin- (stem of ordō “row, regular arrangement”) + -ārius adjective suffix; see order, -ary

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Explanation

Something ordinary is something that happens every day. Maybe you should skip your ordinary breakfast and try something new. Although we often use the adjective ordinary to mean "ho-hum, nothing special," it actually comes from the Latin root for "rule." You could think of ordinary things as almost like rules in your life. As a noun it has other meanings. In heraldry (that's the art of the family shield), an ordinary is a conventional figure. A probate judge is called an ordinary, as is the clergyman who prepares prisoners for death.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ordinary ordinaries

It’s that we’ve become so accustomed to conducting ordinary life through our phones that we rarely stop to consider whether they’re necessary to the transaction in the first place.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

The implications of the discovery may extend beyond ordinary muscle aging.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Some companies are also giving selected defenders access to capabilities not available to ordinary users.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Somehow he has de-dissolved, and we find him working in an Edinburgh pub, looking like an ordinary Englishman, rather than a mechanical man.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?”—as though cruelty and callousness were the norm, ordinary decency the marvel.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

The only way in which ordinary shares can become ADRs is if someone were to convert ADRs to ordinaries and create room.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Ms. Wolfe started digging there and in other archives, and so far has gathered a dozen unknown or forgotten depictions of the arms in heraldic reference works called alphabets and ordinaries.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2016

Photograph: Courtesy of Susan Faludi If someone were to ask me to declare my identity, I’d say that, along with such ordinaries as nationality and profession, I am a woman and I am a Jew.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2016

What actually constitutes "immodest fashion" the Twelve Orders leave to be construed by the local ordinaries of dioceses, as circumstances may require.

From Time Magazine Archive

The inquisitor and episcopal ordinaries proceeded against them vigorously, but the Signiory of Venice interposed and appealed to Leo X., who appointed his nuncio at Venice to revise the trials.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume I by Henry Charles Lea

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Related Words

• common
• conventional
• dull
• generic
• humble
• mediocre
• normal
• plain
• simple
• unremarkable
• workaday

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