| Library / English Dictionary |
ORDINARY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("ordinary" is a kind of...):
armorial bearing; bearing; charge; heraldic bearing (heraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield)
Domain category:
heraldry (the study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ordinary"):
bend; bend dexter (diagonal line traversing a shield from the upper right corner to the lower left)
fess; fesse ((heraldry) an ordinary consisting of a broad horizontal band across a shield)
bar sinister; bend sinister (a mark of bastardy; lines from top right to bottom left)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
Synonyms:
ordinary; ordinary bicycle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("ordinary" is a kind of...):
bicycle; bike; cycle; wheel (a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A judge of a probate court
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("ordinary" is a kind of...):
judge; jurist; justice (a public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice)
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("ordinary" is a kind of...):
clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)
Sense 5
Meaning:
The expected or commonplace condition or situation
Example:
not out of the ordinary
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("ordinary" is a kind of...):
condition (a mode of being or form of existence of a person or thing)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered
Example:
the ordinary (or common) man in the street
Synonyms:
average; ordinary
Classified under:
Similar:
common (having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual)
Derivation:
ordinariness (the quality of being commonplace and ordinary)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree
Example:
an ordinary wine
Classified under:
Similar:
mine run; run-of-the-mill; run-of-the-mine; undistinguished; unexceptional (not special in any way; lacking distinction)
indifferent; so-so (being neither good nor bad)
everyday; mundane; quotidian; routine; unremarkable; workaday (found in the ordinary course of events)
cut-and-dried; cut-and-dry (according to ordinary expectations)
commonplace (completely ordinary and unremarkable)
common (to be expected; standard)
characterless; nondescript (lacking distinct or individual characteristics; dull and uninteresting)
banausic ((formal) ordinary and not refined)
average; fair; mediocre; middling (lacking exceptional quality or ability)
Also:
usual (occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure)
common (having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual)
Attribute:
mundaneness; mundanity; ordinariness (the quality of being commonplace and ordinary)
Antonym:
extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)
Derivation:
ordinariness (the quality of being commonplace and ordinary)
Context examples:
Ordinary physical activity, such as walking or climbing stairs, does not cause angina.
(Canadian Cardiovascular Society Grading Scale Class I, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
This March 9 full moon is one of the most encouraging full moons of the year and will lift you out of ordinary life to experience something other-worldly and quite beautiful.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary clothes on?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
For myself, I don’t believe it was an ordinary thief.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"Well, then, I might as well be gettin' along," Skiff Miller said in the ordinary tones of one departing.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
An iron that stood the ordinary test of a wet finger was too cold for Joe and Martin, and such test was useless.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Under ordinary circumstances, after all that I had undergone, I should have been fit for bed and a trained nurse.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He appeared as tall as an ordinary spire steeple, and took about ten yards at every stride, as near as I could guess.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Dysesthesia can cause an ordinary stimulus to be unpleasant or painful.
(Dysesthesia, NCI Dictionary)
