Word.ws English Dictionary

ordinary

Syllables: or·di·na·ryUK/ˈɔːdɪnəɹi//ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/

ordinary noun: a person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese. Also the alternative letter-case form of Ordinary.

Noun (1)

ordinary (plural ordinaries)

  1. A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
  2. (obsolete) A courier; someone delivering mail or post.
    • I […] will lay to till you come within hail […] but pray respond by the first ordinary.1819, Lord Byron, Letter, 15 May
  3. A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation.
  4. (historical) The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death.
    • He died with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that attended him.1791, James Boswell, “(please specify the year)”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC
  5. (obsolete) Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; (hence) a regular portion or allowance.
  6. (historical) A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment.
    • In short, Mr. Jolter could give a very good account of the stages on the road, and […] was a connoisseur in ordinaries, from twelve to five and thirty livres […].1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter XLIII, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC
    • Here he recommended me to fix my board, there being an excellent ordinary daily at two o'clock, at which I might dine or not as I pleased.1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 169
  7. (archaic, historical) A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn.
    • Vpon feſtiuall daies he goes to Court, and ſalutes vvithout re-ſaluting: at night in an Ordinarie he confeſſeth the buſineſſe in hand, and ſeemes as converſant vvith all intents and plots, as if he begot them.1612 (date written), Thomas Overburye [i.e. Thomas Overbury], “Characters, or Witty Descriptions of the Properties of Sundry Persons. An Affected Traueller.”, in A Wife Now the Widdow of Sir Thomas...
    • We are most part too inquisitive and apt to hearken after news, which Cæsar, in his Commentaries, observes of the old Gauls, they would be inquiring of every carrier and passenger what they had heard or seen, what news abroad? […] as at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barber's shop.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section...
  8. One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.
  9. An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace.
    • Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into an ordinarya. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount...
    • water-buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other ordinaries1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London...
  10. (Ireland, Scotland) The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action.
    • I ſee no more in you than in the ordinary / Of nature's ſalework.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  11. (historical) A penny farthing bicycle.
  12. A part of the Christian liturgy that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed.
  13. (obsolete) A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct.
  14. (especially) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of a liturgy, especially of Mass.

Adjective

ordinary (comparative more ordinary, superlative most ordinary)

  1. Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
  2. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
    • On an ordinary day I wake up at nine o'clock, work for six hours, and then go to the gym.
    • Method is not leſs requiſite in ordinary converſation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make himſelf underſtood.a. 1719, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Honourable Joseph Addison, Eſq., volume 3, published 1741, page 545
  3. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
    • I live a very ordinary life most of the time, but every year I spend a week in Antarctica.
    • He looked so ordinary, I never thought he'd be capable of murder.
  4. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal) Bad or undesirable.
    • It was, in some ways a sad, almost pathetic sight to see this great American boat which had fought so hard throughout the cup summer, now looking very ordinary indeed.1983 September 20, Bruce Stannard, Australia II Joins Our Greats, The Age, republished 2003, David Headon (editor), The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection, page 480
    • For myself, I loved adventure and travelling. I′d already done quite a bit of travelling in Europe and — couldn′t get enough of it and whilst my marriage, at that stage, was very happy, he was very entrenched as a Londoner, Cockney, absolutely Cockney Londoner, and I could see that our future was...1961, Joanna White, quoted in 2005, A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Ten Pound Poms: Australia′s Invisible Migrants, page 80

Noun (2) capitalized: Ordinary

Ordinary

  1. The part of the Roman Catholic Mass that is the same every day

Also used as

ordinary is also the alternative letter-case form of Ordinary.

ordinary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

ordinary in Hindi

normal, routine
साधारण sādhāraṇ, मामूली māmūlī, सामान्य sāmānya
having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane
साधारण sādhāraṇ, सामान्य sāmānya

ordinary in Tamil

சாதாரணமான

ordinary in Urdu

normal, routine
عام āmm, معمولی ma'mūlī, سادھارن sādhāran

ordinary in Bengali

normal, routine
সাধারণ śadharon
having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane
সাধারণ śadharon
More languagesFewer languages
ordinary in Malayalam
സാധാരണ sādhāraṇa
ordinary in Sanskrit
साधारण sādhāraṇa, सामान्य sāmānya
ordinary in Nepali
साधारण
ordinary in Tagalog
ordinaryo, karaniwan
ordinary in Arabic
عَادِيّ ʕādiyy, مَأْلُوف maʔlūf
ordinary in Persian
عادی 'âdi, ساده sâde
ordinary in Thai
สามัญ sǎa-man
ordinary in Myanmar
သာမန် saman, သာမည sama.nya.

Examples of ordinary in a sentence

  • I was at the Ordinary last fair day, and there was nothing else talked of.1919, Stanley J. Weyman, “III. The Lawyer Abroad”, in The Great House:
  • The three were now assembled in the old banqueting-hall, which, from its state of better preservation, had become their ordinary chamber.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry...
  • It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
  • You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag!2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

All 40 example sentences with ordinary

Synonyms of ordinary

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of ordinary

Forms of ordinary

Noun
pluralordinaries
alternative form (obsolete)ordinarie
Adjective
comparativemore ordinary
superlativemost ordinary

Plural of ordinary: ordinaries

Origin of ordinary

From Anglo-Norman ordenarie, ordenaire et al., Middle French ordinaire, and their source, Medieval Latin ordinarius, noun use of Latin ōrdinārius (“regular, orderly”), from ōrdō (“order”).

Words formed from ordinary

Phrases with ordinary

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with ordinary

19 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ordinary

What does ordinary mean?
Ordinary means a person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
What is ordinary in Hindi?
Ordinary in Hindi is साधारण (sādhāraṇ), मामूली (māmūlī), सामान्य (sāmānya). See Ordinary meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ordinary in a sentence?
I was at the Ordinary last fair day, and there was nothing else talked of.
What part of speech is ordinary?
Ordinary can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce ordinary?
Ordinary is pronounced /ˈɔːdɪnəɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of ordinary?
The plural of ordinary is ordinaries.

Words near ordinary in the dictionary

  1. ordinarily
  2. ordinariness
  3. ordinarinesses
  4. ordinarities
  5. ordinarity
  6. ordinary
  7. ordinary course of business
  8. ordinary differential equation
  9. ordinary differential equations
  10. ordinary form
  11. ordinary language

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ordinary (page history and authors); Ordinary (page history and authors); ordinary (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ordinary (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ordinary.ogg, en-au-ordinary.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ordinary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ordinary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.