Meaning of ordinary in English
Table of contents
Classifying Adjective
ordinaryDefinitions
1. lacking special distinction, rank, or statusExamples
- « commonly encountered »
- « average people »
- « the ordinary (or common) man in the street »
Synonyms
Noun
ordinaryDefinitions
1. a judge of a probate court- 2. the expected or commonplace condition or situation
Examples
- « not out of the ordinary »
- 3. a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
- 4. an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
- 5. (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
Qualitative Adjective
ordinaryEtymology
late Middle English: the noun partly via Old French; the adjective from Latin ordinarius‘orderly’ (reinforced by French ordinaire), from ordo, ordin-‘order’Definitions
1. not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degreeExamples
- « ordinary everyday objects »
- « ordinary decency »
- « an ordinary day »
- « an ordinary wine »
Synonyms
- average
- fair
- mediocre
- middling
- banal
- commonplace
- trivial
- banausic
- characterless
- nondescript
- common
- commonplace
- cut-and-dried
- cut-and-dry
- everyday
- mundane
- quotidian
- routine
- unremarkable
- workaday
- indifferent
- passable
- so-so(p)
- tolerable
- run-of-the-mill
- run-of-the-mine
- mine run
- unexceptional
Antonyms
Famous quotes
- « One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. » Elbert Hubbard
- « The ordinary American - as far as I can tell - knows so much less than he did fifty years ago and has such poor work habits compared with fifty years ago that the average multiplicand of knowledge/capabilities is a much smaller number than it was in 1961. » Ben Stein
- « If Warren Buffett made his money from ordinary income rather than capital gains, his tax rate would be a lot higher than his secretary's. In fact a very small percentage of people in this country pay a big chunk of the taxes. » Michael Bloomberg
- « I've been & am absurdly over-estimated. There are no supermen & I'm quite ordinary, & will say so whatever the artistic results. In that point I'm one of the few people who tell the truth about myself. » T. E. Lawrence
- « You would be amazed what the ordinary guy knows. » Matt Drudge