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
After wrestling with those weighty questions, he posed a more workaday one: “What’s gonna be the gas price tomorrow?”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 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
She had also found time to wash and mend my workaday clothing, and patch my tom shoe.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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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.