out of the ordinary
48
4.1
- idiom
:
fuera de lo común
- We're sorry, this is just out of the ordinary for us.
I'm very driven by anything that is out of the ordinary.
- I'm very driven by anything that is out of the ordinary.
- Was that out of the ordinary or was that actually an extension of what I was seeing before that?
- And I feel like if you're different or if you think something about you is just weird and out of the ordinary, I think that's so dope.
- So it was nothing out of the ordinary of like my creative flow.
- And yes, this one is a slight like out of the ordinary one for me.
- Oh, by my, oh, by my love, I take one look at you, You taking me out of the ordinary.
- So it wasn't like a it's not out of the ordinary for them to fall asleep for periods of time, but the guy was asleep the entire show.
- I don't actually have any like out of the ordinary fantasies other than other than like older women and you might say younger women.
Examples
-
All in all, it seemed a normal weekday evening in the Plaza, nothing out of the ordinary.
Fiction book (2001) -
Riggs has picked up on something out of the ordinary about Ku.
Fiction book (1998) -
This man is out of the ordinary.
-
It's nothing out of the ordinary.
-
Anything out of the ordinary?
-
If you find anything out of the ordinary, you return, you report it back here.
-
I'm looking for anything out of the ordinary, really.
-
Its Danish restaurant promises continental cuisine that is out of the ordinary.
Academic text (2001) -
They're out cutting wood and making biscuits and blazing a new trail out back - nothing out of the ordinary.
-
The magician's tricks are truly out of the ordinary, leaving the audience in awe.
Synonyms
∞
2.3
Unusual and slightly odd in a way you cannot easily understand
∞
3.2
Strange or unusual in a way that makes people feel uncomfortable
∞
2.2
Not common and different from what people expect
913
2.0
Not usual and not like what people expect
859
3.8
Very unusual or much greater than usual
798
1.0
Different from what is normal or expected
515
8.6
Very different from what is usual or expected
406
5.9
Very strange or unusual in a way that surprises people
123
4.6
Different from what is normal and expected
122
4.6
Not often found or seen and so rare
101
4.1
Not normal or what people expect
100
4.2
Different from what is usual in a way that may be worrying
52
7.3
Not following the usual rules or customs
34
7.4
Strange or unusual in a way that surprises people
27
5.7
Different from what is usual or expected
27
4.8
A child whose thinking or physical ability is much different from most children
23
8.1
Not like what is usual or expected
14
5.4
Not usual for a person or thing
7
8.0
Strange and often funny in a surprising way
3
6.1
Unusual in a way that does not follow normal rules
1
7.0
Not usual and different from what you expect
1
6.3
Not usual and often interesting or surprising
Very unusual and sometimes strange in a way that attracts attention
Very strange and exciting in a wild way
Antonyms
How Ordinary
Surface Forms
Morphology
out + of + the + ordinary
The meaning 'unusual' is directly and compositionally derived from 'out' + 'of' + 'the' + 'ordinary' — literally 'outside the ordinary.' The prepositional pattern 'out of X' meaning 'outside X' is common in English and many other languages (e.g. Spanish 'fuera de lo común'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase out of the ordinary gives a simple picture: something placed out of the ordinary group stands apart from the rest. So it came to mean 'unusual' or 'not normal'.