ordinary

[awr-dn-er-ee] /ˈɔr dnˌɛr i/
adjective
1.
of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional:
One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
2.
plain or undistinguished:
ordinary clothes.
3.
somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.
4.
customary; usual; normal:
We plan to do the ordinary things this weekend.
5.
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. common, vulgar, or disreputable.
6.
(of jurisdiction) immediate, as contrasted with something that is delegated.
7.
(of officials) belonging to the regular staff or the fully recognized class.
noun, plural ordinaries.
8.
the commonplace or average condition, degree, etc.:
ability far above the ordinary.
9.
something regular, customary, or usual.
10.
Ecclesiastical.
  1. an order or form for divine service, especially that for saying Mass.
  2. the service of the Mass exclusive of the canon.
11.
History/Historical. a member of the clergy appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death.
12.
English Ecclesiastical Law. a bishop, archbishop, or other ecclesiastic or his deputy, in his capacity as an ex officio ecclesiastical authority.
13.
(in some U.S. states) a judge of a court of probate.
14.
British. (in a restaurant or inn) a complete meal in which all courses are included at one fixed price, as opposed to à la carte service.
15.
a restaurant, public house, or dining room serving all guests and customers the same standard meal or fare.
16.
penny-farthing.
17.
Heraldry.
  1. any of the simplest and commonest charges, usually having straight or broadly curved edges.
  2. honorable ordinary.
Idioms
18.
in ordinary, in regular service:
a physician in ordinary to the king.
19.
out of the ordinary,
  1. exceptional; unusual:
    Having triplets is certainly out of the ordinary.
  2. exceptionally good; unusually good:
    The food at this restaurant is truly out of the ordinary.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English ordinarie (noun and adj.) < Latin ordinārius regular, of the usual order, equivalent to ordin- (see order) + -ārius -ary
Related forms
ordinariness, noun
quasi-ordinary, adjective
superordinary, adjective
unordinary, adjective
Synonyms
3. See common. 4. regular, accustomed.
Antonyms
1. extraordinary, unusual, exceptional.
Examples from the web for ordinary
  • It is an observance that has been distilled over centuries of use, molded through common belief and ordinary usage.
  • He weaves a special magic between an otherwise ordinary jacket using simple words to convey something profound.
  • The ordinary picnic table and benches were used for a movie set.
  • What is much harder to find is good ordinary red-wine vinegar.
  • The primary undergraduate degree is the so-called ordinary bachelor's, which typically requires three years of study.
  • While the ordinary-language usage has a pejorative valance, it is an adaptive function.
  • They are ordinary people with extraordinary courage.
  • Entangled photons are pairs of ordinary light particles that are mysteriously connected at the quantum level.
  • Previously, researchers had shown that they could derive this type of stem cell from ordinary skin cells.
  • Word got out, and the order began allowing ordinary citizens to be buried there as well.
British Dictionary definitions for ordinary

ordinary

/ˈɔːdənrɪ/
adjective
1.
of common or established type or occurrence
2.
familiar, everyday, or unexceptional
3.
uninteresting or commonplace
4.
having regular or ex officio jurisdiction: an ordinary judge
5.
(maths) (of a differential equation) containing two variables only and derivatives of one of the variables with respect to the other
noun (pl) -naries
6.
a common or average situation, amount, or degree (esp in the phrase out of the ordinary)
7.
a normal or commonplace person or thing
8.
(civil law) a judge who exercises jurisdiction in his own right
9.
(usually capital) an ecclesiastic, esp a bishop, holding an office to which certain jurisdictional powers are attached
10.
(RC Church)
  1. the parts of the Mass that do not vary from day to day Compare proper (sense 13)
  2. a prescribed form of divine service, esp the Mass
11.
the US name for penny-farthing
12.
(heraldry) any of several conventional figures, such as the bend, the fesse, and the cross, commonly charged upon shields
13.
(history) a clergyman who visited condemned prisoners before their death
14.
(Brit, obsolete)
  1. a meal provided regularly at a fixed price
  2. the inn providing such meals
15.
(Brit) in ordinary, (used esp in titles) in regular service or attendance: physician in ordinary to the sovereign
Word Origin
C16: (adj) and C13: (some n senses): ultimately from Latin ordinārius orderly, from ordō order
Word Origin and History for ordinary
adj.

early 15c., "belonging to the usual order or course," from Old French ordinarie "ordinary, usual" and directly from Latin ordinarius "customary, regular, usual, orderly," from ordo (genitive ordinis) "order" (see order (n.)). Its various noun usages, dating to late 14c. and common until 19c., now largely extinct except in out of the ordinary (1893). In British education, Ordinary level (abbrev. O level), "lowest of the three levels of General Certificate of Education," is attested from 1947. Related: Ordinarily.

Idioms and Phrases with ordinary

ordinary

see: out of the ordinary