out of the ordinary

Idioms and Phrases

Unusual, uncommon, exceptional, as in The venison they served was certainly out of the ordinary . This expression sometimes, but not always, indicates that something is better than the usual. However, the negative version, nothing out of the ordinary , usually indicates that something is not special or outstanding, as in It was an interesting lecture, but nothing out of the ordinary .

Example Sentences

The silky smooth finish was certainly nothing out of the ordinary for Watkins, who added 22 points Friday.

From Los Angeles Times

“This is out of the ordinary for me, but I used to love Chipotle,” Lee said in a review posted May 3.

From Salon

The operas — Russian, French and Italian — are out of the ordinary.

From Los Angeles Times

The words in Donald Trump's victory speech were nothing out of the ordinary - but the moment itself was truly extraordinary.

From BBC

Some of the security company’s customers will host polling sites on Tuesday, so Allied employees are doing surveillance at those locations looking for “bad actors, anything out of the ordinary, and reporting back to law enforcement and those customers on any potential threats that we may see,” Kucera said.

From Los Angeles Times