ordinary

[ awr-dn-er-ee ]

/ ˈɔr dnˌɛr i /

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See synonyms for: ordinary / ordinaries / ordinariness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.

plain or undistinguished: ordinary clothes.

somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.

customary; usual; normal: We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.

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, plural or·di·nar·ies.

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.

penny-farthing.

Heraldry.

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

OTHER WORDS FOR ordinary

4 regular, accustomed.

See synonyms for ordinary on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR ordinary

1 extraordinary, unusual, exceptional.

See antonyms for ordinary on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms about ordinary

in ordinary, in regular service: a physician in ordinary to the king.

out of the ordinary,

exceptional; unusual: Having triplets is certainly out of the ordinary.
exceptionally good; unusually good: The food at this restaurant is truly out of the ordinary.

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

synonym study for ordinary

3. See common.

OTHER WORDS FROM ordinary

or·di·nar·i·ness, nounqua·si-or·di·nar·y, adjectivesu·per·or·di·nar·y, adjectiveun·or·di·nar·y, adjective

Words nearby ordinary

ordinal scale, ordinance, ordinand, ordinariate, ordinarily, ordinary, ordinary differential equation, Ordinary grade, ordinary income, ordinary jubilee, ordinary-language philosophy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

MORE ABOUT ORDINARY

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!

Where does ordinary come from?

The first records of the word ordinary come from the 1200s. It comes from the Latin ordinārius, meaning “regular” or “of the usual order.”

Ordinary things are regular—they exist in the usual order of things. The adverb form ordinarily means “usually” or “in an ordinary manner.”

Describing something as extraordinary doesn’t mean it’s “extra ordinary” or “extra normal” but instead means it’s “beyond ordinary”—it’s unusual, exceptional, or out of the ordinary.

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What are some other forms of ordinary?

ordinarily (adverb)
ordinariness (noun)

What are some synonyms for ordinary?

What are some words that share a root or word element with ordinary?

What are some words that often get used in discussing ordinary?

How is ordinary used in real life?

Ordinary is commonly used to mean “normal” or “regular,” but it can also be used in a negative way to mean “inferior” or “not at all special.”

In ordinary circumstances, ammonium nitrate is fertilizer. But when placed under stress of heat and pressure, it acts like a bomb. https://t.co/JHXlGvNBDZ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 6, 2020

Even though Justin Long is fun to watch, and the third act is good, The Wave ends up being a little too ordinary https://t.co/zw24LOo2NO pic.twitter.com/wBMCi3Tzxc

— io9 (@io9) September 26, 2019

I only remember my dad watching us once. My mom went to an out of town funeral. I was seven and he made Campbell’s chicken noodle soup and oranges. It was 57 years ago and is still such a great memory. So fun and so out of the ordinary (I didn’t know that he could cook).

— Debbie Galant (@debgal55) September 15, 2020

Try using ordinary!

Which of the following words would NOT be used to describe something that’s considered ordinary?

A. fantastic
B. unremarkable
C. dull
D. typical

How to use ordinary in a sentence

The company also offers a Web dashboard of data for ordinary investors.
How the rich got richer: Reddit trading frenzy benefited Wall Street elite|Douglas MacMillan, Yeganeh Torbati|February 8, 2021|Washington Post
Internet shutdowns “hurt ordinary people by depriving us of our fundamental rights to access information, to connect with family members, and they also put our physical safety at risk,” Micek says.
Myanmar: How repressive regimes quash dissent with Internet shutdowns|Robert Hackett|February 2, 2021|Fortune
The two of us primarily text, so a call was out of the ordinary.
I jumped the queue to get an expiring vaccine. Did I do the right thing?|Niall Firth|February 1, 2021|MIT Technology Review
These two appear to be ordinary, run-of-the-mill tectonic quakes.
Rumbles on Mars Raise Hopes of Underground Magma Flows|Robin George Andrews|February 1, 2021|Quanta Magazine

Instead, wealth is transferred from ordinary investors to bubble sellers.
The epic GameStop short squeeze continues to roil global markets—even Bitcoin is off|Bernhard Warner|January 28, 2021|Fortune
There was nothing out of the ordinary, but for the fact that Jim was gay.
I Was Gang Raped at a UVA Frat 30 Years Ago, and No One Did Anything|Liz Seccuro|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Rizzoli in New York City was no ordinary bookstore in its seventies heyday.
The Bookstore That Bewitched Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Greta Garbo|Felice Picano|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They refused to believe that ordinary humans could beat them at their own game.
‘Asteroids’ & The Dawn of the Gamer Age|David Owen|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At the White House on Monday, Obama praised Hagel as “no ordinary secretary of defense.”
Hagel Takes a Bullet for Obama: Inside the Defense Secretary’s Sudden Firing|Shane Harris, Tim Mak|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“My experience was very ordinary, but very privileged,” she said.
Women Share Their Secret Abortion Stories For 1 in 3 Campaign|Brandy Zadrozny|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bacteria, when present in great numbers, give a uniform cloud which cannot be removed by ordinary filtration.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
All the ordinary subjects in schools have been taught over and over again millions and millions of times.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
In one sense, then, the new issue has adequate expansibility for ordinary needs.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
When ordinary methods do not suffice, it can usually be cleared by shaking up with a little magnesium carbonate and filtering.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
It behaves the same as glucose with all the ordinary tests, and can be distinguished only by polarization.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for ordinary

ordinary

/ (ˈɔːdənrɪ) /

adjective

of common or established type or occurrence

familiar, everyday, or unexceptional

uninteresting or commonplace

having regular or ex officio jurisdictionan ordinary judge

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

noun plural -naries

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 dayCompare proper (def. 13)
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

British obsolete

a meal provided regularly at a fixed price
the inn providing such meals

in ordinary British (used esp in titles) in regular service or attendancephysician in ordinary to the sovereign

Word Origin for ordinary

C16: (adj) and C13: (some n senses): ultimately from Latin ordinārius orderly, from ordō order

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ordinary

ordinary

see out of the ordinary.

ordinary

OTHER WORDS FOR ordinary

OPPOSITES FOR ordinary

Idioms about ordinary

Origin of ordinary

synonym study for ordinary

OTHER WORDS FROM ordinary

Words nearby ordinary

MORE ABOUT ORDINARY

What does ordinary mean?

Where does ordinary come from?

Did you know ... ?

How is ordinary used in real life?

Try using ordinary!

Words related to ordinary

How to use ordinary in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ordinary

Word Origin for ordinary

Other Idioms and Phrases with ordinary