Normal vs. Ordinary — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Maham Liaqat — Updated on April 30, 2024
Normal refers to conforming to a standard or typical state; ordinary implies being commonplace without any distinctive features.
Difference Between Normal and Ordinary
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Normal is often used to describe conditions, behaviors, or situations that align with what is generally expected or accepted in a society. Whereas, ordinary describes something that is neither exceptional nor unusual, but rather what one typically encounters in daily life.
Normal can imply a sense of regularity and consistency according to certain standards or averages. On the other hand, ordinary might carry a connotation of mediocrity, suggesting that something is not particularly remarkable or special.
Normal is frequently used in contexts relating to health, behaviors, and societal norms, highlighting what is considered acceptable or typical within a specific framework. In contrast, ordinary often appears in discussions about quality or interest level, underscoring the lack of uniqueness or distinction.
Normal can be subjective and vary greatly depending on cultural, societal, or situational contexts. Meanwhile, ordinary is more universally understood as something that fits into the everyday or commonplace scenario without any significant deviation.
Comparison Chart
Definition
Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected
With no special or distinctive features; commonplace
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Usage in context
Often related to behavior or conditions
Generally pertains to quality or uniqueness
Connotation
Implies standardization and regularity
Suggests mediocrity or lack of special features
Variability
Can vary based on cultural or societal norms
Universally recognized as common or average
Related expressions
Normalcy, normalization
Ordinariness, extraordinarily ordinary
Compare with Definitions
Normal
Conforming to what is standard or expected in society.
It’s normal for teenagers to seek independence from their parents.
Ordinary
Lacking special features; nondescript.
He drives an ordinary sedan.
Normal
Typical or usual state or condition.
After the earthquake, it took months for the city to return to normal.
Ordinary
Of no special quality or interest; commonplace.
The conversation was ordinary and unremarkable.
Normal
Regularly occurring; not abnormal.
It's normal to feel nervous before a presentation.
Ordinary
Commonplace or standard; not unusual.
Just an ordinary day at the office.
Normal
Psychologically sound.
His behavior is perfectly normal for someone his age.
Ordinary
Mediocre or average in quality.
The meal was quite ordinary, nothing special.
Normal
Not deviating from the average.
Her blood pressure readings are normal.
Ordinary
Typically encountered; usual.
She prefers an ordinary lifestyle, without any frills.
Normal
Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical
Normal room temperature.
One's normal weight.
Normal diplomatic relations.
Ordinary
With no special or distinctive features; normal
It was just an ordinary evening
He sets out to depict ordinary people
Normal
(Biology) Functioning or occurring in a natural way; lacking observable abnormalities or deficiencies.
Ordinary
(especially of a judge or bishop) exercising authority by virtue of office and not by deputation.
Normal
Relating to or designating the normality of a solution.
Ordinary
What is commonplace or standard
Their clichés were vested with enough emotion to elevate them above the ordinary
Normal
Abbr. n Designating an aliphatic hydrocarbon having an acyclic unbranched chain of carbon atoms.
Ordinary
A judge who exercises authority by virtue of office and not by deputation.
Normal
Being at right angles; perpendicular.
Ordinary
A member of the clergy, such as an archbishop in a province or a bishop in a diocese, with immediate jurisdiction.
Normal
Perpendicular to the direction of a tangent line to a curve or a tangent plane to a surface.
Ordinary
Those parts of a Roman Catholic service, especially the Mass, which do not vary from day to day.
Normal
Relating to or characterized by average intelligence or development.
Ordinary
Any of the simplest principal charges used in coats of arms (especially chief, pale, bend, fess, bar, chevron, cross, saltire).
Normal
Free from mental illness; sane.
Ordinary
Short for ordinary share
Normal
The usual, expected, or standard state, form, amount, or degree
Temperatures have been above normal for this time of year.
Ordinary
A meal provided at a fixed time and price at an inn.
Normal
(Mathematics) A perpendicular, especially a perpendicular to a line tangent to a plane curve or to a plane tangent to a space curve.
Ordinary
A penny-farthing bicycle.
Normal
According to norms or rules or to a regular pattern.
Organize the data into third normal form.
Ordinary
Commonly encountered; usual
An ordinary delay at the bridge tolls.
Normal
(mathematics) Adhering to or being what is considered natural or regular in a particular field or context:
Ordinary
Having no special ability, quality, or purpose
Ordinary people.
Ordinary black tea.
Normal
Usual, healthy; not sick or ill or unlike oneself.
John is feeling normal again.
Ordinary
Not particularly good; not better than average
The service was good, but the food was very ordinary.
Normal
Teaching teachers how to teach to certain norms
My grandmother attended Mankato State Normal School.
Ordinary
(Law) Having direct authority to decide a case, rather than being delegated that power, as a judge.
Normal
(chemistry) Of, relating to, or being a solution containing one equivalent weight of solute per litre of solution.
Ordinary
(Mathematics) Designating a differential equation containing no more than one independent variable.
Normal
(organic chemistry) Describing a straight chain isomer of an aliphatic hydrocarbon, or an aliphatic compound in which a substituent is in the 1- position of such a hydrocarbon.
Ordinary
The usual or normal condition or course of events
Nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
Normal
In which all parts of an object vibrate at the same frequency normal mode]].
Ordinary
(Law) A judge with direct authority as opposed to delegated authority to decide a case.
Normal
In the default position, set for the most frequently used route.
Ordinary
The parts of the Mass that remain unchanged from day to day.
Normal
(geometry) Perpendicular to a tangent of a curve or derivative of a surface.
The interior normal vector of an ideal perfect sphere will always point toward the center, and the exterior normal vector directly away, and both will always be co-linear with the ray whose' tip ends at the point of intersection, which is the intersection of all three sets of points.
Ordinary
A division of the Roman Breviary containing the unchangeable parts of the office other than the Psalms.
Normal
(geometry) A line or vector that is perpendicular to another line, surface, or plane.
Ordinary
A cleric, such as the residential bishop of a diocese, with ordinary jurisdiction over a specified territory.
Normal
A person who is healthy, normal, as opposed to one who is morbid.
Ordinary
(Heraldry) One of the simplest and commonest charges, such as the bend and the cross.
Normal
A person who is normal, who fits into mainstream society, as opposed to those who live alternative lifestyles.
Ordinary
A complete meal provided at a fixed price.
Normal
The usual state.
His workload is now back to normal.
Heavy workload is the new normal.
Ordinary
A tavern or inn providing such a meal.
Normal
According to an established norm, rule, or principle; conformed to a type, standard, or regular form; performing the proper functions; not abnormal; regular; natural; analogical.
Deviations from the normal type.
Ordinary
A person with authority; authority, ordinance.
Normal
According to a square or rule; perpendicular; forming a right angle; as, a line normal to the base. Specifically: Of or pertaining to a normal.
Ordinary
A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
Normal
Standard; original; exact; typical.
Ordinary
(obsolete) A courier; someone delivering mail or post.
Normal
Any perpendicular.
Ordinary
(law) A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation.
Normal
A straight line or plane drawn from any point of a curve or surface so as to be perpendicular to the curve or surface at that point.
Ordinary
The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death.
Normal
Something regarded as a normative example;
The convention of not naming the main character
Violence is the rule not the exception
His formula for impressing visitors
Ordinary
Something ordinary or regular.
Normal
Conforming with or constituting a norm or standard or level or type or social norm; not abnormal;
Serve wine at normal room temperature
Normal diplomatic relations
Normal working hours
Normal word order
Normal curiosity
The normal course of events
Ordinary
(obsolete) Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; hence a regular portion or allowance.
Normal
In accordance with scientific laws
Ordinary
A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment.
Normal
Being approximately average or within certain limits in e.g. intelligence and development;
A perfectly normal child
Of normal intelligence
The most normal person I've ever met
Ordinary
A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn.
Normal
Forming a right angle
Ordinary
(heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.
Ordinary
An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace.
Ordinary
The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action.
Ordinary
A penny farthing bicycle.
Ordinary
(Christianity) A part of the Christian liturgy that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed.
Ordinary
A book setting out ordinary or regular conduct.
Ordinary
(obsolete) A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct.
Ordinary
(Christianity) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass.
Ordinary
Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
Ordinary
Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
On an ordinary day I wake up at nine o'clock, work for six hours, and then go to the gym.
Ordinary
Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
I live a very ordinary life most of the time, but every year I spend a week in Antarctica.
He looked so ordinary, I never thought he'd be capable of murder.
Ordinary
Bad or undesirable.
Ordinary
According to established order; methodical; settled; regular.
Ordinary
Common; customary; usual.
Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation that in writing.
Ordinary
Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit; as, men of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book.
An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way.
Ordinary
An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation.
Ordinary
The mass; the common run.
I see no more in you than in the ordinaryOf nature's salework.
Ordinary
That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered a settled establishment or institution.
Spain had no other wars save those which were grown into an ordinary.
Ordinary
Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and other ordinaries.
Ordinary
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.
All the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.
He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.
Ordinary
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.
Ordinary
A judge of a probate court
Ordinary
The expected or commonplace condition or situation;
Not out of the ordinary
Ordinary
A clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
Ordinary
An early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
Ordinary
(heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
Ordinary
Not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree;
Ordinary everyday objects
Ordinary decency
An ordinary day
An ordinary wine
Ordinary
Lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered;
Average people
The ordinary (or common) man in the street
Common Curiosities
How does ordinary differ from normal?
Ordinary refers to something that is commonplace and lacks distinctive features, while normal relates to what conforms to a standard.
Why might someone prefer the ordinary?
People might prefer the ordinary for its predictability and comfort in familiarity.
Can societal norms define what's considered normal?
Yes, societal norms heavily influence what is considered normal within a community or society.
What role does culture play in defining what's normal?
Cultural contexts shape and often dictate what is regarded as normal behavior or conditions.
Can something be extraordinary and normal?
Yes, in certain contexts, something can be extraordinary yet still fit within normal expectations, like a particularly insightful idea in an academic discussion.
What does it mean when something is considered normal?
It means it conforms to what is standard, typical, or expected in a given context.
How can I tell if something is normal or ordinary?
Assess if it aligns with general standards (normal) or if it seems typical and unremarkable (ordinary).
Is ordinary always negative?
No, being ordinary can be viewed positively as grounded or relatable.
Can something be normal but not ordinary?
Yes, something can be normal in one context (like high stress in emergency rooms) but not ordinary in general life settings.
Is it derogatory to describe something as ordinary?
Not necessarily; it can be neutral, though it may imply a lack of uniqueness or specialness.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
