everyday
Americanadjective
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of or relating to every day; daily.
an everyday occurrence.
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of or for ordinary days, as contrasted with Sundays, holidays, or special occasions.
everyday clothes.
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such as is met with every day; ordinary; commonplace.
a placid, everyday scene.
noun
adjective
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happening each day; daily
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commonplace or usual; ordinary
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suitable for or used on ordinary days as distinct from Sundays or special days
Usage
What’s the difference between everyday and every day? Everyday is most commonly used as an adjective meaning daily or, in a more figurative sense, ordinary, as in an everyday occurrence. The phrase every day means each day—it functions as an adverb to describe how frequently an action is done, as in I try to exercise every day. Think of it this way: everyday is used to describe nouns, while every day is used to describe verbs.For example, a person might aspire to go for a run every day, eat vegetables every day, and read every day. If they did these things every day (or most days), these activities would constitute part of their everyday routine.If you can replace the term with regular or ordinary, use everyday. If you can replace it with each day, use every day. Careful—the word daily can be used to replace both terms in certain situations (such as I exercise every day and This is one of my everyday exercises).Here’s an example of everyday and every day used correctly in the same sentence.Example: Every day this week I’ve tried to change one thing about my everyday routine.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between everyday and every day.
Other Word Forms
- everydayness noun
Etymology
Origin of everyday
First recorded in 1325–75, everyday is from the Middle English word everydayes. See every, day
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There are different kinds of art criticism — theoretical, and academic, two that turn up in different kinds of scholarly journals; trade, sponsored in commercially supported magazines; and journalistic, embedded in press reporting on everyday life.
From Los Angeles Times
Now with a young family, everyday tasks like mowing the lawn were accompanied by excruciating pain.
From BBC
In Doral, where many Venezuelan residents have friends or family who have been deported, the fear of being detained and sent back has seeped into everyday life and hurt the economy.
Black Friday brings in billions of dollars to U.S. businesses annually as price cuts spur shoppers to participate in the retail event and purchase gifts and everyday essentials.
From Barron's
Cubicle dwellers at a Texas software company endure everyday corporate indignities, including paper jams and smug bosses asking if they got the memo about cover sheets for the TPS reports.
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.
