sundry
Americanadjective
idioms
determiner
pronoun
noun
-
(plural) miscellaneous unspecified items
-
also called: extra. cricket a run not scored from the bat, such as a wide, no-ball, bye, or leg bye
Other Word Forms
- sundrily adverb
- sundriness noun
Etymology
Origin of sundry
before 900; Middle English; Old English syndrig private, separate, equivalent to syndr- (mutated form of sundor asunder ) + -ig -y 1; akin to sunder
Explanation
A teenager emptying out his backpack at the end of the school year might find sundry items at the bottom, meaning that the backpack was filled with a random collection of unrelated things — an old stick of gum, a broken pair of sunglasses, crumpled pieces of paper, and so forth. Most people associate the word sundry with the old-fashioned drugstore in their neighborhood that used to sell all sorts of odds and ends, from magazines to hairbrushes. The word is typically used as an adjective to describe a collection of various different items found in one place, as in — "I discovered records, perfume bottles, and sundry items at my neighbor's yard sale." The phrase "all and sundry" refers collectively to a group of people, as in, "I invited all and sundry of my relatives to my tea party."
Vocabulary lists containing sundry
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
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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.
Philip Larkin, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens and sundry others have all been criticised for their personal conduct.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026
This week a bellwether trial begins in a flurry of lawsuits that seek to hold social-media platforms liable for sundry adolescent problems.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026
The contestants deal with rough seas, strong currents, jellyfish and sundry venomous creatures, intruding fishermen, limited air, sinus crises, variable visibility and unexpected orcas.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2025
The impetus is all artificial intelligence, which needs those megacomputers to store and process sundry sources of data that will train its programs—including, what do ya know, your personal-account uploads.
From Slate • Oct. 6, 2024
As if the expense and trouble were not irksome enough, all and sundry insisted on salting Ned's wound by calling it "the Hand's tourney," as if he were the cause of it.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
