usual
[yoo-zhoo-uhl, yoozh-wuhl]
- habitual or customary: her usual skill.
- commonly met with or observed in experience; ordinary: the usual January weather.
- commonplace; everyday: He says the usual things.
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- something that is usual: He could expect only the usual.
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- as usual, in the customary or usual manner: As usual, he forgot my birthday.
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Origin of usual
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. accustomed. Usual, customary, habitual refer to a settled and constant practice. Usual indicates something that is to be expected by reason of previous experience, which shows it to occur more often than not: There were the usual crowds at the celebration. Something that is customary is in accordance with prevailing usage or individual practice: It is customary to finish up with a bonfire. That which is habitual has become settled or constant as the result of habit on the part of the individual: The merchants wore habitual smiles throughout the season. 2. general, prevailing, prevalent, familiar, regular. 3. expected, predictable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
regularly, customarily, routinely, mostly, sometimes, generally, ordinarily, commonly, consistently, occasionally, frequently, normally, mainly, habituallyExamples from the Web for usually
Contemporary Examples
These are young fathers, rural farmers, usually growing banana or coffee or subsistence crops.
“I usually see people head to the stationary bikes,” Steinbrick says.
But outside of a few European countries and Quebec, this leave is usually two weeks or less and usually unpaid.
As a company that is beholden to stockholders, Kate Spade usually lags, not leads trends.
While there are a couple of antibiotics that usually work, if they are overused they, too, may cease to be effective.
Without Education, Antibiotic Resistance Will Be Our Greatest Health CrisisRussell Saunders
December 19, 2014
Historical Examples
Pericles was usually represented with a helmet, to cover the deformity in his skull.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
I am bound to him by ties stronger than usually bind the hearts of women.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
And I remember they were more than usually brilliant at that time.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
But, because he won't submit, he usually runs foul of other men.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
But Allister had not come in, although he was usually the first at a rendezvous.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
usually
- customarily; at most times; in the ordinary course of events
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usual
- of the most normal, frequent, or regular type; customarythat's the usual sort of application to send
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- ordinary or commonplace events (esp in the phrase out of the usual)
- the usual informal the habitual or usual drink, meal, etc
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Word Origin
C14: from Late Latin ūsuālis ordinary, from Latin ūsus use
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for usually
usual
adj.
late 14c., from Old French usuel (late 13c.), from Late Latin usualis "ordinary," from Latin usus "custom" (see use). The usual suspects is from a line delivered by Claude Rains (as a French police inspector) in "Casablanca" (1942).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with usually
usual
see as usual; business as usual.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.