ordinary
ordinary Lexical Profile
ordinary Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
With no special or distinctive features; normal, customary, or expected in everyday life.
"What began as an ordinary Tuesday morning at the office quickly turned into a major celebration."
Uninteresting, commonplace, or unexceptional in quality or status; mediocre.
"Critics found the sequel rather ordinary compared to the groundbreaking original film."
Exercising authority by virtue of office rather than by special delegation (used especially of judges and ecclesiastical officials).
"The matter fell squarely within the bishop's ordinary jurisdiction over the diocese."
• noun
What is normal, customary, or expected in everyday life (used chiefly in the phrase 'out of the ordinary').
"The security guard noticed nothing out of the ordinary during his midnight patrol."
An ecclesiastical official, such as a diocesan bishop, or a civil judge (especially a probate judge in parts of the United States) who exercises jurisdiction by right of office.
"Under canon law, the local ordinary must approve the establishment of any new religious community in the diocese."
Those parts of a Christian liturgical service, especially the Mass or Divine Office, that remain fixed and invariable regardless of the season or feast day.
"Renaissance composers frequently set the five main sections of the Ordinary of the Mass to polyphonic music."
One of the simplest, principal geometrical charges on a heraldic shield, such as a chief, pale, bend, fess, chevron, cross, or saltire.
"The family coat of arms featured a red chevron as its central heraldic ordinary."
• Rhymes for ordinary
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Old French ordinarie, from Latin ordinarius ('customary, regular, orderly'), derived from ordo (stem ordin-), meaning 'row, rank, series, or arrangement'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.