- [usually before noun] not unusual or different in any way
- an ordinary sort of day
- in the ordinary course of events
- ordinary people like you and me
- This was no ordinary meeting.
- She was a perfectly ordinary little girl.
- They are just ordinary working folk.
Extra Examples- I lead a very ordinary life.
- It was, for most ordinary citizens, a time of prosperity.
- She doubted that, in ordinary circumstances, the two would have got on well together.
- The images can be printed on ordinary paper.
- These plates are for ordinary, everyday use.
- We were an ordinary family.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- seem
- …
- very
- perfectly
- quite
- …
- (disapproving) having no unusual or interesting features
- The meal was very ordinary.
Extra Examples- The wines produced were at best very ordinary.
- He had an ordinary sort of face.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- seem
- …
- very
- perfectly
- quite
- …
Word Originlate Middle English: the noun partly via Old French; the adjective from Latin ordinarius ‘orderly’ (reinforced by French ordinaire), from ordo, ordin- ‘order’.
Idioms
See ordinary in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee ordinary in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishin the ordinary way
- (British English) used to say what normally happens in a particular situation
- In the ordinary way, she's not a nervous person.
out of the ordinary
- unusual or different
- I'm looking for something a little more out of the ordinary.
- His behaviour was nothing out of the ordinary (= not unusual).
Check pronunciation:
ordinary