From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishordinaryor‧di‧na‧ry /ˈɔːdənəri $ ˈɔːrdəneri/ ●●● S1 W2 adjective 1 ORDINARYaverage, 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.► see thesaurus at normal2 ORDINARYnot particularly good or impressive I thought the paintings were pretty ordinary. —ordinariness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
ordinary• The house was clean and well kept, but very ordinary.• He wore an ordinary business suit with a white shirt and tie.• Clearly selling a second-hand car without an ignition key or registration document would not be acting in the ordinary course of business.• But I am just an ordinary girl, with ordinary parents and went to an ordinary school with 2,000 other kids.• It's just an ordinary house in an ordinary street.• ordinary household items• Gillman's known for her photographs of ordinary household items.• She was a serious young woman, rather ordinary in appearance.• The shares of ordinary insurers would be cheap.• It's a small, ordinary little village, its only claim to fame the castle, and the burial mounds.• It's surprising that a girl as attractive as Sarah is going out with someone so ordinary looking.• But, for Ricardo, the system survived not because it served the ordinary man.• We are praying that very ordinary people will be called to a very special task.• Housing prices in New York are out of reach for ordinary people.• I thought it was a pretty ordinary performance.• Can you get connected to the Internet through an ordinary telephone line?• Never despise ordinary things - the ordinary in yourself or in others.• He knew what was happening in the boathouse and it was too ordinary to convert into anything exciting.• an ordinary workdaysomebody/something is no ordinary ...• You fire it up just like a normal car, but that's when you realise the Axiam is no ordinary car.• For he is no ordinary man.• Indisputably, White House service is no ordinary opportunity.• Mr RuizMassieu is no ordinary prisoner.• But the Red Lion at Chalgrove is no ordinary pub.• But this is no ordinary rehearsal.• This sounds expensive but this is no ordinary representative of the appellation.Origin ordinary (1300-1400) Latin ordinarius, from ordo; → ORDER1 