garden-variety

[gahr-dn-vuh-rahy-i-tee]

adjective

1. common, usual, or ordinary; unexceptional.

Word History and Origins

Origin of garden variety¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Idioms and Phrases

Ordinary, common, as in I don't want anything special in a VCR—the garden variety will do. This term alludes to a common plant as opposed to a specially bred hybrid. [Colloquial; 1920]

Example Sentences

This week’s Slate News Quiz is more than your garden-variety diversion.

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It looked like garden-variety campaign theater: a billionaire pretending to be “just like us.”

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Most likely resort to garden-variety self-delusion to maintain their support.

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At this point, it was a garden-variety story of influence peddling.

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But the theater’s ability to turn family dysfunction, be it alcoholism, Alzheimer’s or just garden-variety existential agony, into entertainment and instant illumination, has long been a staple of the American stage.

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