How to Use ordinary in a Sentence

ordinary

adjective
  • 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.
  • This ordinary act would ring in my ears for years to come.
    — Anya Sesay, jsonline.com, 5 Feb. 2026
  • This would be well out of the ordinary.
    — Dennis Lin, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • At first, his case didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
    — Tyler Freel, Outdoor Life, 4 Mar. 2026
  • But this was no ordinary card shop.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 20 June 2026
  • Sounds like an ordinary guy to me.
    — Outside Online, 18 Feb. 2026
  • But this isn’t an ordinary blood test.
    — Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
  • But these are not ordinary times.
    — Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
  • But these are not ordinary times.
    — ABC News, 7 May 2026
  • That wasn’t out of the ordinary.
    — Rufina Chow, NBC news, 3 Apr. 2026
  • But Siegel said such big moves aren’t out of the ordinary.
    — Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 5 June 2026
  • Of course, Sanders was not just an ordinary fifth-rounder.
    — Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Oct. 2025
  • The idea is to make the ordinary feel novel.
    — Mark Travers, CNBC, 7 Sep. 2025
  • His presence should no longer feel out of the ordinary.
    — Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Venus’ clash with Uranus prompts you to break from your ordinary pack.
    — Usa Today, USA Today, 8 Feb. 2026
  • Dane was far from a boring ordinary guy.
    — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 15 June 2026
  • But these are nothing close to ordinary times.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2026
  • How much gold should an ordinary investor buy?
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 8 Mar. 2026
  • But there wasn’t much ordinary about this contest.
    — Idaho Statesman, 12 Oct. 2025
  • But this is no ordinary overseas trip.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
  • The inmate wasn’t the only one who found it out of the ordinary.
    — Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 21 Mar. 2026
  • The buds shift in ordinary use and the seal is not consistent.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 14 Nov. 2023
  • Think of ordinary tongs as a cleaver, and a Stando as a scalpel.
    — Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The battery is said to last for up to 30 days of ordinary use.
    — PCMAG, 16 Apr. 2024
  • Lunt didn’t want an ordinary tattoo though.
    — Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
  • For five weeks this year, Jones has been a little more ordinary.
    — Kansas City Star, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Also, peep my mom not wearing shoes, which is not out of the ordinary for her.
    — Emily Strohm, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
  • McAfee isn’t any ordinary farmer.
    — CNN Money, 14 June 2026

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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