A word meaning extraordinary

: employed for or sent on a special function or service

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A polymer based on the elastic protein that enables fleas to perform their extraordinary jumping feats has been synthesized. The material … is, perhaps unsurprisingly, rubbery and highly resilient; indeed, some of its properties exceed those of a material used to make bouncy balls for the playground.


—Rosamund Daw, Nature, 13 Oct. 2005

Jimi Hendrix is one of those extraordinary hubs of music where everybody lands at some point. Every musician passes through Hendrix International Airport eventually.  … He is the common denominator of every style of contemporary music.


—John Mayer, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2004

Like the eighteenth-century Scots, whose similar borderland situation stimulated an extraordinary renaissance in letters, natural science, and social science, the Americans’ ambivalent identities led them to the interstices of metropolitan thought where were found new views and new approaches to the old.


—Bernard Bailyn, To Begin the World Anew, 2003

Books can even have merits that are owed to their lack of literary quality: Agatha Christie’s whodunits display an extraordinary ingenuity in their plotting, but the beauty of the puzzle requires cardboard characters and total implausibility in motives and reasons.


—Richard Jenkyns, New Republic, 28 Jan. 2002

The researchers made an extraordinary discovery.

The race is an extraordinary event.

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Recent Examples on the Web

Seth Herald/Getty Images In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville.


—Verne Kopytoff, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2023




In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville.


—Kimberlee Kruesi And Jonathan Mattise, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Apr. 2023




Now, in what would be an extraordinary act of retribution for the protest, Republicans are poised to vote on Thursday to oust the three Democrats from the General Assembly and carry out the first partisan expulsion in the state’s modern history.


—Emily Cochrane, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2023




On a night when Joel Embiid was extraordinary (52 points), the Celtics still came close to stealing a season sweep of the 76ers The 76ers entered the game at home, at full strength, with an MVP favorite on a mission, against a Celtics team missing starters Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams.


—Adam Himmelsbach, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Apr. 2023




Expelling lawmakers is an extraordinary action inside the Tennessee Capitol.


—CBS News, 3 Apr. 2023




The number of big projects and the size of state subsidy packages are extraordinary, said Nathan Jensen, a University of Texas professor who researches government economic development strategies.


—Marc Levy, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2023




Abraham Lincoln’s capacities, his eloquence, were extraordinary, by any measure.


—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2023




Music is a very, very extraordinary thing.


—Chris Willman, Variety, 31 Mar. 2023


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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘extraordinary.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Etymology

Middle English extraordinarie, from Latin extraordinarius, from extra ordinem out of course, from extra + ordinem, accusative of ordin-, ordo order

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of extraordinary was
in the 15th century

Something extraordinary goes above and beyond what is expected. This can be good or bad. Saving a child from a burning building is an extraordinary act of heroism, but a test score of 11 out of 100 is extraordinary too.

The extra- in extraordinary means «outside» the ordinary. If you had to work for 10 hours on a two-page writing assignment, that means it was an extraordinarily hard assignment. Either that or you were extraordinarily slow. We often use the word extraordinary as a superlative. If your friend bakes you a cake better than any you’ve ever tasted, you could tell her it is “extraordinary.”

Definitions of extraordinary

1. adjective

   beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable

   “extraordinary authority”

   “an
   extraordinary achievement”

   “her
   extraordinary beauty”

   “enjoyed
   extraordinary popularity”

   “an
   extraordinary capacity for work”

   “an
   extraordinary session of the legislature”

   Synonyms:

   uncommon

   not common or ordinarily encountered; unusually great in amount or remarkable in character or kind

   unusual

   not usual or common or ordinary

   incomparable, uncomparable

   such that comparison is impossible; unsuitable for comparison or lacking features that can be compared

   impressive

   making a strong or vivid impression

   bonzer

   remarkable or wonderful

   exceeding, exceptional, olympian, prodigious, surpassing

   far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree

   extraordinaire

   extraordinary in a particular capacity

   fantastic, grand, howling, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, rattling, terrific, tremendous, wonderful, wondrous

   extraordinarily good or great ; used especially as intensifiers

   phenomenal

   exceedingly or unbelievably great

   awful, frightful, terrible, tremendous

   extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact

   great

   remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect

   one

   used informally as an intensifier

   preternatural, uncanny

   surpassing the ordinary or normal

   pyrotechnic

   suggestive of fireworks

   rare, uncommon

   marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind

   remarkable, singular

   unusual or striking

   some

   remarkable

   special

   for a special service or occasion

   wonderworking

   performing or able to perform wonders or miracles

   superior

   of high or superior quality or performance

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   Antonyms:

   ordinary

   not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree

   common

   having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual

   usual

   occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure

   average, fair, mediocre, middling

   lacking exceptional quality or ability

   banausic

   (formal) ordinary and not refined

   characterless, nondescript

   lacking distinct or individual characteristics; dull and uninteresting

   common

   to be expected; standard

   commonplace

   completely ordinary and unremarkable

   cut-and-dried, cut-and-dry

   according to ordinary expectations

   everyday, mundane, quotidian, routine, unremarkable, workaday

   found in the ordinary course of events

   indifferent, so-so

   being neither good nor bad

   mine run, run-of-the-mill, run-of-the-mine, unexceptional

   not special in any way

   show more antonyms…

2. adjective

   far more than usual or expected

   “an
   extraordinary desire for approval”

   synonyms:

   over-the-top, sinful

   immoderate

   beyond reasonable limits

3. adjective

   (of an official) serving an unusual or special function in addition to those of the regular officials

   “an ambassador
   extraordinary”

   Synonyms:

   unusual

   not usual or common or ordinary