adj · noun · 27 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/ˈɔːdɪnəɹi/
UK:/ˈɔːdənɹi/
US:/ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/
General-American:/ˈɔɹdɪnɛ(ə)ɹi/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australia:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɛəɹi
CMU ARPABET:AO1 R D AH0 N EH2 R IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
On an ordinary day I wake up at nine o'clock, work for six hours, and then go to the gym.
Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
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.
a. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, "Samuel Johnson," in 1871, Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay Trevelyan, editor), The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete, Volume 7, page 325, An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way: but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: lackluster, pedestrian, unexceptional, average, comme ci comme ça, crappy, decent, indifferent, meh, mediocre, mid, middling, no great shakes, nothing to write home about, not worth writing home about, OK, okayish, ordinary, uninspiring, shitty, so-so, tolerable, whatever
Antonyms: extraordinary, special
4
adj
Meaning 4
Bad or undesirable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
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, 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.
1961, Joanna White, quoted in 2005, A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Ten Pound Poms: Australia′s Invisible Migrants, page 80, 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 pretty ordinary and so my hidden agenda I suppose was to drag him out to Australia and hope that both our lifestyles would improve and there would be new opportunities.
Narrower terms: bend, bend dexter, fesse, fess, bar sinister, bend sinister
24
noun
Meaning 24
an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ordinary bicycle
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bicycle, bike, wheel, cycle
25
noun
Meaning 25
a judge of a probate court
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: judge, justice, jurist
26
noun
Meaning 26
a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: clergyman, reverend, man of the cloth
27
noun
Meaning 27
the expected or commonplace condition or situation
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
not out of the ordinary
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: condition
History
Etymology
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”).
Across languages
Translations
140 source translations are retained for this English entry.
