extraordinary
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Beyond what is ordinary or usual.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehkstruhawrduhnuhreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛkstɹəˈɔɹdənɛɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable
Not ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
Remarkably good.
Special or supernumerary.
noun
Anything that goes beyond what is ordinary.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable
Used this way, extraordinary is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- phenomenal , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use extraordinary
- “Extraordinary authority.”adjective
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Very remarkable; highly extraordinary; amazing.
Out of the ordinary; curious.
Forming an exception.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A diplomat having less authority than an ambassador.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
adjective
Sense: beyond what is ordinary or usual
Antonyms
Sense: anything that goes beyond what is ordinary
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Related Learning
Guides that use this word in context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “extraordinary” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.