Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Latin
Origin: ordinarius, from ordo; ORDER1

ordinary

 adjective
     
or‧di‧na‧ry S1 W2
1 average, common, or usual, not different or special:
It's just an ordinary camera.
The book is about ordinary people.
Art should be part of ordinary life.
It is good because it is written in friendly, ordinary language.
out of the ordinary (=unusual or unexpected)
Anything out of the ordinary made her nervous.
in the ordinary way British English (=as normal)
The money is taxed as income in the ordinary way.
somebody/something is no ordinary ... (=used to say someone or something is very special)
This is no ordinary car.
Ruiz is no ordinary prisoner.
2 not particularly good or impressive:
I thought the paintings were pretty ordinary.
—ordinariness noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary