out of the ordinary
"out-of-the-ordinary" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“out of the ordinary” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Unusual or exceptional, especially for the better.
Corpus desk
Index EN-out-of-the-ordinary · out of the ordinary · English
out of the ordinary · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 letters
- VOW-8 8 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | out of the ordinary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “out of the ordinary” in English
Rare enough to double-check
out of the ordinary is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Unusual or exceptional, especially for the better.".
out of the ordinary has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is out of the ordinary, spelled O-U-T- -O-F- -T-H-E- -O-R-D-I-N-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Unusual or exceptional, especially for the better.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how out of the ordinary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The food was expensive, and nothing out of the ordinary.
The unusual rolling stock, the fare collection methods, and the exchange of train staffs make it quite clear that here is something out of the ordinary run of suburban electric lines.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.