run-of-the-mine
Americanadjective
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of or relating to ore or coal that is crude, ungraded, etc.
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common or ordinary; run-of-the-mill.
a boring, run-of-the-mine performance.
Etymology
Origin of run-of-the-mine
First recorded in 1905–10
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.
He got elected to the Ohio state senate, and there put through a bill making run-of-the-mine pay mandatory for miners, ending the abuse he had noted years before at Morgan-Run.
From Time Magazine Archive
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By 1933, the uranium content in the run-of-the-mine ore had risen to 1.23%.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Overlooked, however, was the fact that Hemingway is far from being a run-of-the-mine writer.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Weegee does a better than ordinary job with the run-of-the-mine stuff�bodies crumpled on the pavement, flames licking a tenement roof, skirts swirling in the wind�but people and faces are what he is after.
From Time Magazine Archive
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A run-of-the-mine rifleman, Lou developed an accuracy famed in an outfit noted for its shooting, once he took up mortars.
From Time Magazine Archive
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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.