different between public vs ordinary

English

Alternative forms

• publick, publicke, publike, publique (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman publik, public, Middle French public, publique et al., and their source, Latin p?blicus (“pertaining to the people”). Compare people.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?bl?k/
• Hyphenation: pub?lic

Adjective

public (comparative more public, superlative most public)

1. Able to be seen or known by everyone; open to general view, happening without concealment. [from 14th c.]
2. Pertaining to the people as a whole (as opposed to a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc. [from 15th c.]
   • 2010, Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, 16 Sep 2010:

     A mere 3% of the more than 1,000 people interviewed said they actually knew what the conference was about. It seems safe to say public awareness of the Convention on Biological Awareness in Nagoya - and its goal of safeguarding wildlife - is close to non-existent.
3. Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community. [from 15th c.]
   • 2004, The Guardian, Leader, 18 Jun 2004:

     But culture's total budget is a tiny proportion of all public spending; it is one of the government's most visible success stories.

4. Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes. [from 15th c.]
   • 2011, David Smith, The Guardian, 10 May 2011:

     Some are left for dead on rubbish tips, in refuge bags or at public toilets.
5. (of a company) Traded publicly via a stock market.
6. (not comparable, object-oriented programming) Accessible to the program in general, not only to the class or any subclasses.

Antonyms

• private

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

public (plural publics)

1. The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.
   • 2007 May 4, Martin Jacques, The Guardian

     Bush and Blair stand condemned by their own publics and face imminent political extinction.

2. (public relations) A particular group or demographic to be targeted.
   • 2005, Donald Treadwell, ?Jill B. Treadwell, Public Relations Writing: Principles in Practice (page 19)

     To the extent that you will use them to reach many other publics, the news media will also be one of your publics.

3. (archaic) A public house; an inn.

Derived terms

• antipublic
• general public
• Joe Public
• John Q. Public
• member of the public
• public relations
• public-spirited

Translations

References

• public at OneLook Dictionary Search
• public in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• public in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• public in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py.blik/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin publicus.

Adjective

public (feminine singular publique, masculine plural publics, feminine plural publiques)

1. public

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun use of public (compare Latin publicum).

Noun

public m (plural publics)

1. public (people in general)
2. audience

   Il devait plaire à son public.

   He had to please his audience

Further reading

• “public” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Ladin

Adjective

public m pl

1. plural of publich

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin publicus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

public m (feminine singular publica, masculine plural publics, feminine plural publicas)

1. public

   Antonym: privat

Derived terms

• publicament

Noun

public m (plural publics)

1. public, audience

Old French

Alternative forms

• publik
• publiq
• publique

Adjective

public m (oblique and nominative feminine singular publique)

1. public (not private; available to the general populace)

Derived terms

• en public

References

• publik on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French public < Latin publicus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pu.blik/

Adjective

public m or n (feminine singular public?, masculine plural publici, feminine and neuter plural publice)

1. public

Noun

public n (plural publice)

1. the public

English

Alternative forms

• ordinarie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ordenarie, ordenaire et al., Middle French ordinaire, and their source, Medieval Latin ordinarius, noun use of Latin ?rdin?rius (“regular, orderly”), from ?rd? (“order”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/, /???d?n?i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /???d?n?(?)?i/
• Hyphenation: or?di?na?ry, or?din?ary

Noun

ordinary (plural ordinaries)

1. A person with authority; authority, ordinance.
   1. (ecclesiastical, law) A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese. [from 14th c.]
   2. (obsolete) A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct. [15th–17th c.]
   3. (obsolete) A courier; someone delivering mail or post. [16th–19th c.]
      • 1819, Lord Byron, Letter, 15 May:

        I […] will lay to till you come within hail […] but pray respond by the first ordinary.

   4. (Christianity) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass. [from 16th c.]
   5. (law) A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation. [from 17th c.]
   6. (now historical) The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death. [from 17th c.]
      • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 811:

        ‘He died with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that attended him.’

2. Something ordinary or regular.
   1. (obsolete) Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; (hence) a regular portion or allowance. [15th–19th c.]
   2. (now chiefly historical) A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment. [from 16th c.]
      • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol II, ch. 43:

        In short, Mr. Jolter could give a very good account of the stages on the road, and […] was a connoisseur in ordinaries, from twelve to five and thirty livres […] .

      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 169:

        Here he recommended me to fix my board, there being an excellent ordinary daily at two o'clock, at which I might dine or not as I pleased.

   3. (now archaic, historical) A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn. [from 16th c.]
      • , II.2.4, 1847, page 315,

        We are most part too inquisitive and apt to hearken after news, which Cæsar, in his Commentaries, observes of the old Gauls, they would be inquiring of every carrier and passenger what they had heard or seen, what news abroad? […] as at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barber's shop.

      • 1712, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 288,

        Thus furnished, they come up to town, reckon all their errors for accomplishments, borrow the newest set of phrases ; and if they take a pen into their hands, all the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.

      • 1899, Bancroft, Richard Garnett, Léon Vallée, Alois Brandl (editors), The Universal Anthology, page 320,

        He enjoyed a perpetual port duty of fourteen pence a ton, on vessels not owned in the province, yielding not far from five thousand dollars a year; and he exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.

      • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p.1,

        it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.

   5. (heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess. [from 16th c.]
   6. An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace. [from 16th c.]
      • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

        Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into an ordinary

      • water-buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other ordinaries

   7. (now Scotland, Ireland) The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action. [from 16th c.]
      • 1622, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5, 1800, The Plays of William Shakspeare, Volume 8, page 287,

        I ?ee no more in you than in the ordinary / Of nature's ?alework.

   8. (now historical) A penny-farthing bicycle. [from 19th c.]

Translations

Adjective

ordinary (comparative more ordinary, superlative most ordinary)

1. (law, of a judge) Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
2. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
   • a. 1719, Joseph Addison, 1741, The Works of the Late Honourable Joseph Addison, E?q., Volume 3, page 545,

     Method is not le?s requi?ite in ordinary conver?ation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make him?elf under?tood.

3. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
   • a. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, "Samuel Johnson," in 1871, Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay Trevelyan, editor), The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete, Volume 7, page 325,

     An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way: but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.
4. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal) Bad or undesirable.
   • 1983 September 20, Bruce Stannard, Australia II Joins Our Greats, The Age, republished 2003, David Headon (editor), The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection, page 480,

     It was, in some ways a sad, almost pathetic sight to see this great American boat which had fought so hard throughout the cup summer, now looking very ordinary indeed.

   • 1961, Joanna White, quoted in 2005, A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Ten Pound Poms: Australia?s Invisible Migrants, page 80,

     For myself, I loved adventure and travelling. I?d already done quite a bit of travelling in Europe and — couldn?t get enough of it and whilst my marriage, at that stage, was very happy, he was very entrenched as a Londoner, Cockney, absolutely Cockney Londoner, and I could see that our future was pretty ordinary and so my hidden agenda I suppose was to drag him out to Australia and hope that both our lifestyles would improve and there would be new opportunities.

   • 2007, Chris Viner-Smith, Australia?s Forgotten Frontier: The Unsung Police Who Held Our PNG Front Line, page 28,

     Everyone started making suggestions as to what to do but they were all pretty ordinary ideas such as lighting a fire and hope someone would see the smoke and come to rescue us and so on.

   • 2010, Mal Bryce, Australia's First Online Community Ipswich Queensland, page 125,

     Since the general public gained access to the Internet in 1993-4, firstly by narrowband dial-up access and since 1998 by very ordinary, so-called broadband speeds (generally less than 1 Mbps), a social and cultural revolution has been underway.

Antonyms

• (having no special characteristics): extraordinary, special

Derived terms

• ordinarily, ordinariness
• ordinary differential equation, ordinary number, ordinary seaman
• in ordinary
• out of the ordinary

Translations

Further reading

• "ordinary" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 225.