Standard Lemma guide

workaday

adj · noun · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɜːkədeɪ/
  • General-American: /ˈwɜɹkədeɪ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: W ER1 K AH0 D EY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Suitable for everyday use.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: everyday, general, regular, average, basic, bog-standard, common, common as bums, common as dirt, common as muck, common as pig tracks, dime a dozen, frequent, habitual, nonrare, par for the course, pedestrian, plain, quotidian, routinary, routine, ten a penny, two a penny, usual, workaday

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Mundane or commonplace.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: garden variety, ordinary, typical, average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden, common-or-garden, congruent, consistent, conventional, customary, everyday, expected, improminent, mundane, natural, normal, par for the course, par, plain, plain vanilla, quotidian, regular, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard issue, unexceptional, unremarkable, unstrange, usual, vulgar, wakeaday, workaday

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A workday.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

found in the ordinary course of events- Anita Diamant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a placid everyday scene
  • it was a routine day
  • there's nothing quite like a real...train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: everyday, mundane, quotidian, routine, unremarkable

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Middle English werkedei, from Old Norse virkr dagr (“working day”). Cognate to later workday; see work and day. Used in adjective sense from 16th century. By surface analysis, work + -a- + day. First attested in c. 1200.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: де́лничен (délničen) — suitable for everyday use
  • Bulgarian: всекидне́вен (vsekidnéven) — suitable for everyday use
  • Chinese Mandarin: 日常 (rìcháng) — suitable for everyday use
  • Chinese Mandarin: 日用 (rìyòng) — suitable for everyday use
  • Finnish: arkinen — suitable for everyday use
  • German: Alltags- — suitable for everyday use
  • Polish: codzienny — suitable for everyday use
  • Polish: powszedni — suitable for everyday use
  • Polish: roboczy — suitable for everyday use
  • Bulgarian: обикнове́н (obiknovén) — mundane or commonplace
  • Chinese Mandarin: 平凡 (píngfán) — mundane or commonplace
  • Chinese Mandarin: 普通 (pǔtōng) — mundane or commonplace
  • Finnish: arkinen — mundane or commonplace
  • German: Alltags- — mundane or commonplace
  • German: alltäglich — mundane or commonplace
  • Polish: pospolity — mundane or commonplace
  • Polish: przeciętny — mundane or commonplace
  • Polish: zwyczajny — mundane or commonplace