normalcy

[ nawr-muhl-see ]

noun

1. the quality or condition of being normal, as the general economic, political, and social conditions of a nation; normality:

   After months of living in a state of tension, all yearned for a return to normalcy.

normalcy

1. A word used by President Warren Harding to describe the calm political and social order to which he wished to return the United States after the idealism and commotion of the presidency of Woodrow Wilson .

Notes

Normalcy has been used as a general term for the political climate in the United States in the early 1920s.

Word History and Origins

Origin of normalcy¹

First recorded in 1855–60; normal + -cy

Example Sentences

After a tumultuous year behind us, 2021 may feel like it holds promise for respite — perhaps, for some, even a return to some version of normalcy.

From Digiday

Foreign diplomats in Washington quietly welcomed the speech as a return to normalcy.

From Time

For many, it symbolizes safety, freedom, a return to normalcy, seeing friends, visiting, family and travel.

From Washington Post

The College Board’s update on AP testing procedures, disclosed Thursday, seeks to bring the program at least a step toward normalcy even though basic operating conditions at schools across the country remain wildly uneven.

From Washington Post

Amtrak is joining a growing list of companies offering cash or other incentives to essential workers as distribution of vaccines expands across the country and is hailed as a way to restore normalcy.

From Washington Post

Still, the urge to seek a return to normalcy remains powerful, he said, and could drive more people in Syria toward the truces.

From The Daily Beast

Normalcy and reality were keystones of the Republican agenda.

From The Daily Beast

I grew up in Matthews, North Carolina, and saw it as a very normal upbringing, so I crave normalcy and a slower pace.

From The Daily Beast

The normalcy of his domestic life was somehow surprising to me.

From The Daily Beast

My normalcy has its own poignancy and beauty to it that most hearing people will  never know.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps you won't think so when you see me get back to normalcy.

From Project Gutenberg

But King Ferdinand was an unusually efficient king, and he spared no pains in his craving for normalcy.

From Project Gutenberg

The normalcy of this made my heart stop hammering, my heart catching up with my brain, and soon we were all sitting at the table.

From Project Gutenberg

He had to work out a plan that would solve everything and return the whole business to a state of normalcy.

From Project Gutenberg

We'll have tea and a talk as soon as I return to—to normalcy—that was Mr. Harding's way of expressing it, wasn't it?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• normality
• ordinariness
• uniformity