workaday

[ wur-kuh-dey ]

adjective

1. of or befitting working days; characteristic of a workday and its occupations.
2. ordinary; commonplace; everyday; prosaic.

workaday

/ ˈwɜːkəˌdeɪ /

adjective

1. being a part of general human experience; ordinary
2. suitable for working days; everyday or practical

Word History and Origins

Origin of workaday¹

1150–1200; alteration (probably after nowadays ) of earlier worky-day workday, alteration (by association with holiday ) of Middle English werkeday, obscurely derived from work and day

Example Sentences

“He wanted to present himself as among ‘the best and the brightest,’ not some common plebe who’d held workaday jobs,” Garrow said of Obama’s first run for the presidency.

From Los Angeles Times

The boring, workaday tasks of running his career and mindfully negotiating parenthood with Taketa are among the episodic A-plots leading the season.

From Salon

In the beginning, there was the wharf, the rudimentary, workaday pier built to get goods from here to there.

From Los Angeles Times

An earlier building was destroyed by shelling during World War II. The small wooden church that replaced it was put to more workaday uses in Soviet times, when religion was suppressed.

From Seattle Times

Then, 50 men identically dressed in truncated gray suits and khaki overcoats entered in rows and, cued by the ringing of a taskmaster’s bell, performed workaday activities like typing and eating lunch.

From New York Times

Related Words

• businesslike
• constructive
• down-to-earth
• efficient
• factual
• feasible
• functional
• possible
• practicable
• pragmatic
• rational
• reasonable
• sane
• sensible
• sober
• workable