Extraordinary Normal Extra Adjective ɪkˈstrɔːdnri ɪkˈstrɔːrdəneri Thing President

• what an extraordinary thing to say!
• the president took the extraordinary step of apologizing publicly for his behaviour!
• we are a normal family dealing with extraordinary circumstances.
• it's extraordinary that he managed to sleep through the party.

extraordinary

1. unexpected, surprising or strange
• SYNONYM incredible
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/incredible
• What an extraordinary thing to say!
• The president took the extraordinary step of apologizing publicly for his behaviour!
• We are a normal family dealing with extraordinary circumstances.
• It's extraordinary that he managed to sleep through the party.
• It is extraordinary how little evidence supports this view.

Extra Examples

• What makes it so extraordinary is that the experts had all dismissed her theories as nonsense.
• The discussion was about the treatment of extraordinary items in the company accounts.
• It seems extraordinary that she could have got away with this for so long.
• I find it extraordinary that anybody on a murder charge should be given bail.
2. not normal or ordinary; greater or better than usual
• COMPARE ordinary
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/ordinary
• an extraordinary achievement
• She was a truly extraordinary woman.
• They went to extraordinary lengths to explain their behaviour.
• The film tells the extraordinary story of two people struggling to survive in the Arctic.
• The response from the public has been quite extraordinary.

Extra Examples

• The portrait does not do justice to her extraordinary beauty.
• The festival offers an extraordinary range of artistic events.
• She must have been an extraordinary artist to work with.
• I found an extraordinary number of errors in the document.
• He did the work with extraordinary energy and good humour.
• He used the extraordinary powers granted to him by Parliament to introduce economic reforms.
3. arranged for a special purpose and happening in addition to what normally or regularly happens
• An extraordinary meeting was held to discuss the problem.
• The ruling Socialist Party held an extraordinary congress in July, two months before the annual congress.
4. employed for a special purpose in addition to the usual staff
• an envoy extraordinary

Word Origin

• late Middle English: from Latin extraordinarius, from extra ordinem ‘outside the normal course of events’.