workaday
Americanadjective
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of or befitting working days; characteristic of a workday and its occupations.
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ordinary; commonplace; everyday; prosaic.
adjective
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being a part of general human experience; ordinary
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suitable for working days; everyday or practical
Etymology
Origin of workaday
1150–1200; alteration (probably after nowadays ) of earlier worky-day workday, alteration (by association with holiday ) of Middle English werkeday, obscurely derived from work and day
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.
In a 1991 interview, Kurosawa recalled the origins of “Seven Samurai” as a story about the workaday existence of a single samurai.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
His inspiration was not any architectural theory or school so much as the workaday landscape of Southern California itself, the brash free-for-all he had noticed as soon as he arrived in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025
This fundamentally misunderstands the appeal of conspiracies, though, which is that it’s more fun and exciting to believe in them instead of in workaday truths.
From Slate • May 24, 2025
It was for ceremonial occasions, and upstairs there were some workaday offices.
From BBC • Dec. 12, 2024
It was in striking contrast to the messy reality of the workaday world.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
