How to Use ordinary in a Sentence

ordinary

adjective
Definition of ordinarynext
Synonyms for ordinarynext
  • The meal was ordinary and uninspired.
  • My wife thought our guide was strange, but he seemed perfectly ordinary to me.
  • They've had the ordinary problems associated with starting a new business.
  • That was just very, very much out of the ordinary for me.
    — Gillian Telling, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2023
  • The battery is said to last for up to 30 days of ordinary use.
    — PCMAG, 16 Apr. 2024
  • Vogue: There’s a lot going in this film that’s out of the ordinary.
    — Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2024
  • The buds shift in ordinary use and the seal is not consistent.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 14 Nov. 2023
  • This isn't anything out of the ordinary for the activist and actress.
    — Zizi Strater, Peoplemag, 10 May 2023
  • If the people who live and work in ordinary ways give up, then the things that need to change will never change.
    — Billboard Japan, Billboard, 13 Feb. 2024
  • Rustin honors Bayard and the thousands of ordinary folks from all walks of life.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Scharre said Jack’s reaction was not out of the ordinary.
    — Mike Wagner, The Courier-Journal, 22 June 2023
  • Cons: The slices are too large to put in an ordinary toaster without breaking them in half.
    — Endia Fontanez, The Arizona Republic, 31 May 2023
  • In the West Bank, ordinary Palestinians are bracing for worse to come.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2023
  • These kids may not always be comfortable in the humdrum, ordinary world, but the film is full of hope.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024
  • The mall vacancy rate is 107% above the ordinary retail rate.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 May 2023
  • But in the path of totality, something was clearly out of the ordinary.
    — Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
  • One-quarter of the 100 desks are ordinary blond-wood furniture.
    — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 14 July 2023
  • Long ago, a sense of resignation took root, that ordinary people have no control over or say in the course of events.
    — Ben Wedeman, CNN, 17 May 2023
  • Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are a lot like ordinary couples.
    — Melissa Locker, Southern Living, 28 Dec. 2023
  • While March snow isn't out of the ordinary in the state most years, this winter has been exceptionally snowless.
    — Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 22 Mar. 2024
  • Rides are expected to be slightly more expensive than an ordinary taxi but in the same price range as a private car like Uber.
    — Aimee Look, CNN, 27 Sep. 2023
  • The accents are brown at ordinary through-stations, like Solferino, and green at junctions like Pasteur.
    — Andrew Martin, Travel + Leisure, 15 Jan. 2024
  • How to open ourselves up to love and wonder and to marvel at every moment, no matter how ordinary.
    — Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Silent Night is a human story about an ordinary man seeking revenge against this huge gang.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Dec. 2023
  • But neither the ordinary Georgia voter nor the ordinary sports fan was given a say.
    — The Editors, National Review, 17 Nov. 2023
  • But in the 1950s, the Folkways label assigned itself the task of documenting the whole world of sound, and sharing it with ordinary listeners.
    — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2023
  • For both the executive high priests and the ordinary worshippers of Marvelism, the gnostic gospel of Stanley Martin Lieber amounts to heresy.
    — Abraham Josephine Riesman, Vulture, 22 June 2023
  • Biden will give the speech, watched more closely than ever this year, ears straining to hear any misstep, any gaffe, anything remotely out of the ordinary.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024
  • But the airstrike in Damascus was far out of the ordinary, both in killing so many senior figures at once and in hitting a diplomatic building, normally considered off limits in conflicts.
    — Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ordinary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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