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

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

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

Nasser Al-Dhafiri, a civil servant in his forties, described "immense psychological pressure" on ordinary people as the attacks sparked fears of electricity outages.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

That lump-sum IRA withdrawal would be taxed as ordinary income, which would likely push the withdrawal into the highest federal tax brackets, and state tax brackets.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

Crypto sits outside the traditional plumbing of global finance, where banks, regulators and the electronic network by which ordinary payments are transmitted give Western governments visibility over the movement of money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

With more than half of his investments in tech, George Lee, who recently graduated, says he is well aware of the lack of resources and other disadvantages that ordinary traders can face.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

We settle into our nighttime routines, and it feels oddly ordinary.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

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

Then 18 cardinals and 6,000 priests and ordinaries fell into line, bearing lighted candles.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Here were to be built the court-house, prison, offices of the clerk and sheriff, ordinaries and churches.

From The Stronghold A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People by Haynie, Miriam

Related Words

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