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ordinary
[ awr-dn-er-ee ]
adjective
- of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional:
One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
Antonyms: exceptional, unusual, extraordinary
- plain or undistinguished:
ordinary clothes.
- somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.
We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.
Synonyms: accustomed, regular
- Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. common, vulgar, or disreputable.
- (of jurisdiction) immediate, as contrasted with something that is delegated.
- (of officials) belonging to the regular staff or the fully recognized class.
noun
- the commonplace or average condition, degree, etc.:
ability far above the ordinary.
- something regular, customary, or usual.
- Ecclesiastical.
- an order or form for divine service, especially that for saying Mass.
- the service of the Mass exclusive of the canon.
- History/Historical. a member of the clergy appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death.
- English Ecclesiastical Law. a bishop, archbishop, or other ecclesiastic or his deputy, in his capacity as an ex officio ecclesiastical authority.
- (in some U.S. states) a judge of a court of probate.
- 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.
- a restaurant, public house, or dining room serving all guests and customers the same standard meal or fare.
- Heraldry.
- any of the simplest and commonest charges, usually having straight or broadly curved edges.
ordinary
/ ˈɔːdənrɪ /
adjective
- of common or established type or occurrence
- familiar, everyday, or unexceptional
- uninteresting or commonplace
- having regular or ex officio jurisdiction
an ordinary judge
- maths (of a differential equation) containing two variables only and derivatives of one of the variables with respect to the other
noun
- a common or average situation, amount, or degree (esp in the phrase out of the ordinary )
- a normal or commonplace person or thing
- civil law a judge who exercises jurisdiction in his own right
- usually capital an ecclesiastic, esp a bishop, holding an office to which certain jurisdictional powers are attached
- RC Church
- the parts of the Mass that do not vary from day to day Compare proper
- a prescribed form of divine service, esp the Mass
- the US name for penny-farthing
- heraldry any of several conventional figures, such as the bend, the fesse, and the cross, commonly charged upon shields
- history a clergyman who visited condemned prisoners before their death
- obsolete.
- a meal provided regularly at a fixed price
- the inn providing such meals
- in ordinary(used esp in titles) in regular service or attendance
physician in ordinary to the sovereign
Other Words From
- or·di·nar·i·ness noun
- qua·si-or·di·nar·y adjective
- su·per·or·di·nar·y adjective
- un·or·di·nar·y adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of ordinary1
Idioms and Phrases
- in ordinary, in regular service:
a physician in ordinary to the king.
- out of the ordinary,
- exceptionally good; unusually good:
The food at this restaurant is truly out of the ordinary.
More idioms and phrases containing ordinary
see out of the ordinary .Synonym Study
Example Sentences
For many ordinary Syrians, however, the principal concern is how minorities will be treated.
But “The End” is no ordinary film, and Oppenheimer is uninterested in forging one clear path forward through his story.
Like juries, these assemblies comprise ordinary citizens called to a public duty, who tend to demonstrate a remarkable ability to reason together.
Smith said this year’s fire season is gearing up to be slightly longer than usual but is not particularly out of the ordinary.
At the other end of the scale, we sat through some - on the face of it - very ordinary details.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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