Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Commonly encountered; usual. See Synonyms at common.
- adj. Of no exceptional ability, degree, or quality; average.
- adj. Of inferior quality; second-rate.
- adj. Having immediate rather than delegated jurisdiction, as a judge.
- adj. Mathematics Designating a differential equation containing no more than one independent variable.
- n. The usual or normal condition or course of events: Nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
- n. Law A judge or other official with immediate rather than delegated jurisdiction.
- n. Law The judge of a probate court in some states of the United States.
- n. Ecclesiastical The part of the Mass that remains unchanged from day to day.
- n. Ecclesiastical A division of the Roman Breviary containing the unchangeable parts of the office other than the Psalms.
- n. Ecclesiastical A cleric, such as the residential bishop of a diocese, with ordinary jurisdiction over a specified territory.
- n. Heraldry One of the simplest and commonest charges, such as the bend and the cross.
- n. Chiefly British A complete meal provided at a fixed price.
- n. Chiefly British A tavern or an inn providing such a meal.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Conformed to a fixed or regulated sequence or arrangement; hence, sanctioned by law or usage; established; settled; stated; regular; normal; customary.
- Common in practice or use; usual; frequent; habitual.
- Common in occurrence; such as may be met with at any time or place; not distinguished in any way from others; hence, often, somewhat inferior; of little merit; not distinguished by superior excellence; commonplace; mean; low.
- Ugly; not handsome: as, she is an ordinary woman.
- Vulgar, etc. (see common), homely.
- n. One possessing immediate jurisdiction in his own right and not by special deputation. Specifically— In ecclesiastical law, a bishop, archbishop, or other ecclesiastic or his deputy, in his capacity as an ex officio ecclesiastical judge; also, the bishop's deputy in other ecclesiastical matters, including formerly the administration of estates.
- n. An English diocesan officer, entitled the ordinary of assize and sessions, appointed to give criminals their neck-verses, perform other religious services for them, and assist in preparing them for death.
- n. A judge empowered to take cognizance of causes in his own right, and not by delegation. Specifically— In the Court of Session in Scotland, one of the five judges, sitting in separate courts, who form the Outer House. Appeals may be taken from their decision to the Inner House.
- n. The established or due sequence; the appointed or fixed form; in the Roman Catholic missal and in other Latin liturgies, the established sequence or order for saying mass; the service of the mass (with exclusion of the canon) as preëminent; the ordo. In the medieval English liturgical books the Latin title was Ordinarium et Canon Missæ, the ordinary and canon of the mass; in the Roman missal and in general Latin use the title is Ordo Missæ, the order of the mass, and the Canon Missæ, canon of the mass, is entered as a new title. Hence some writers call only that part of the mass which precedes the canon the ordinary or ordo.
- n. Rule; guide.
- n. Something regular and customary; something in common use.
- n. A usual or customary meal; hence, a regular meal provided at, an eating-house for every one, as distinguished from dishes specially ordered; a table d'hôte.
- n. A place where such meals are served; an eating-house where there is a fixed price for a meal.
- n. The average; the mass; the common run.
- n. In heraldry, a very common bearing, usually bounded by straight lines, but sometimes by one of the heraldic lines, wavy, nebulé, or the like. See line, 12. The ordinaries are the oldest bearings, and in general the oldest escutcheons are those which are charged only with the ordinaries, or with these primarily, other charges having been added. The bearings most generally admitted as ordinaries are the eight following: bar, bend, chevron, chief, cross, fesse, pale, and saltire; but most writers add one, some two, and others a greater number, namely one or more of the following: bend sinister, inescutcheon, quarter or franc-quartier, pile, bordure. By some writers also the subordinaries and ordinaries are considered together under one head. The ordinaries are often called
honorable ordinaries , to distinguish them from the subordinaries. - n. In the navy: The establishment of persons formerly employed by government to take charge of ships of war laid up in harbors.
- n. The state of a ship not in actual service, but laid up under the charge of officers: as, a ship in ordinary (one laid up under the direction of the officers of a navy-yard or dockyard).
- n. See def. 10 .
- n. Abbreviated ord.
- n. The bicycle with a large front and a small rear wheel, which preceded the ‘safety’ bicycle: so called because it was the common form of bicycle before 1890. See bicycle.
- n. In the stock-market, a share of ordinary or common (that is, not preferred) stock.
Wiktionary
- adj. law Having regular jurisdiction (of a judge; now only used in certain phrases).
- adj. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
- adj. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane (often deprecatory).
- adj. Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal Bad or undesirable.
- n. obsolete A devotional manual.
- n. Christianity A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass.
- n. A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
- n. obsolete A set portion of food, later as available for a fixed price at an inn or other eating establishment.
- n. A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn.
- n. heraldry One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.
- n. An ordinary thing or person.
- n. historical A penny-farthing bicycle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. According to established order; methodical; settled; regular.
- adj. Common; customary; usual.
- adj. Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit
- n. (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation.
- n. (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also, a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to perform divine service for condemned criminals and assist in preparing them for death.
- n. (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.
- n. obsolete The mass; the common run.
- n. rare That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered a settled establishment or institution.
- n. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
- n. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction from one where each dish is separately charged; a table d'hôte; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a dining room.
- n. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or ten which are in constant use. The bend, chevron, chief, cross, fesse, pale, and saltire are uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include
bar ,bend sinister ,pile , and others. See Subordinary.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree
- n. a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
- n. an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
- n. a judge of a probate court
- adj. lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered
- n. the expected or commonplace condition or situation
- n. (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
Etymologies
- From Anglo-Norman ordenaire, ordenarie etc., from Latin ōrdinārius ("regular, orderly"), from ōrdō ("order"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English ordinarie, from Old French, from Latin ōrdinārius, from ōrdō, ōrdin-, order. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Thus in the slogan ˜Back to ordinary language™, ˜ordinary™ may be contrasted with”
“An embassador who is intrusted with the ordinary business of a minister at a foreign court, is called an _embassador in ordinary_.”
“I send this letter by her on return, leaving tomorrow = but her speed in ordinary is limited to 15 knots so you need not expect a record run.”
Letter from Young John Allen to Mrs. Pattillo,October 14, 1906
“TOM DEFRANK, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": Well, he was an ordinary guy in the good sense of the term ordinary, Anderson.”
“For instance, the Karma Kagyu tradition uses the term ordinary mind to refer to the subtlest level of mind, the clear light mind: whereas for the other Tibetan traditions, “ordinary mind” would imply the ordinary ignorant mind, so it means completely the opposite thing.”
“In practice, the determination of the persons included under the term ordinary is of importance in the case of indults and the execution of rescripts issued from Rome.”
“Mr. Owens, who photographed his friends and neighbors in the northern California suburbs when he wasn't working as a newspaper photographer, trained his lens on what he called "ordinary folks doing ordinary things.”
“As it happens, the nearness to what he calls "ordinary people" has had an effect on his movies, which have come to be known for capturing aspects of everyday life.”
The Wall Street Journal: Serious and Silly Filmmaking in Denmark
“A committee of MPs proposed this modest reform in 2004, but not even Gordon Brown, uneasy with honours but keen on what he called "ordinary British heroes" an OBH anyone?”
The Guardian: New Year honours' dishonourable past | Michael White
“He proceeded to peel vegetables and keep his expression ordinary.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ordinary’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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Home Sweet Home
Actual Towns and Cities with Poetic Names.
If you know where the town is located please put that in the comments. All of mine came out of a zip code directory.phlox, blue mountain, battles wharf, robinwood, blue spring, coffee springs, cottage hill, hazel green, highland home, sunflower, three notch, circle and 94 more...
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INTERP - speeches can be...
adequate, adroit, blunt, blurred, committed, divisive, exacerbating, fitting, hollow, lengthy, murky, pronounced and 123 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Realism
Words to describe the art during the Realist movement
reality, harsh, criticizing, working-class, labor, working, organized, status, satire, dark, masses, ordinary and 45 more...
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chefjulianin's Words
high, ice, recipe, bear, bare, lady, food, identity, sudden, spooky, away, cook and 142 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Amazing words used by Paul Keating
shellback, spiv, glib, ordinary, recalcitrant, dash capability, footloose
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harmony of the spheres
tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone, progression, sonata, concerto, allegro and 247 more...
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List of Heraldry Terms
Words and phrases used in blazoning heraldic devices, along with names and other terms associated with the art and science.
Other similar lists can be found on Wordnik, especially that...seiant, duciper, bourdon, pouch, scrip, staff, ananas, besant d'argent, roundle, roundel, argent, allocamelus and 743 more...
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Words I like
This is a list of my favourite words (phrases) in english, as a second language. I love them mostly because of how they sound and their meaning.
ninja, cookie, skill, zip, plentiful, digg, debris, pancake, cucumber, fetch, pot, backpack and 461 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Heraldry
azure, gules, sable, vert, purpure, or, argent, ermine, vair, charge, ordinary, cross and 118 more...
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Idk, I like these words.
ethereality, apathy, consideration, soul, safety, lone wolf, darkness, pressure, ocean, few, collapse, believe and 155 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ordinary.

treeseed a town in Virginia, USA Feb 26, 2008
oroboros Being ordinary is like being in the World's Largest Cult. To "Be Yourself" ain't much if that's ALL you're going to be." --Jan Cox Apr 4, 2007
chained_bear In heraldry, a charge of the earliest, simplest, and commonest kind, usually bounded by straight lines, but sometimes engrailed, wavy, indented, etc.
The principal charges so classed are the Chief, Pale, Bend, Bend-sinister, Fess, Bar, Chevron, Cross, and Saltire. Feb 4, 2007