different between run-of-the-mill vs customary

English

Alternative forms

• run of the mill
• run-o’-the-mill, run o’ the mill

Etymology

From 1922; from the fact that product produced by a mill should be uniform and like that of any other similar run.

Adjective

run-of-the-mill (comparative more run-of-the-mill, superlative most run-of-the-mill)

1. (figuratively) Ordinary; not special.

   This isn’t your run-of-the-mill refrigerator; you’ll find the extra features well worth the price.

   • 1971 November 30, Martin Lapidus, Class Notes: 62, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 72, page 26,

     The other had the most run-of-the-mill news which make some of my recent run-of-the-mill columns appear like the raciest escapist fare.

   • 1989, Punch, page 55,

     For a deeper, less familiar philosophy, you have to listen to your more run-of-the-mill dossers, and they don't come more run-of-the-mill than Ratso.

   • 1995, Alain Mérot, French Painting in the Seventeenth Century, page 42,

     In one side of the prestigious commissions, public and private, sacred and profane, which could make the name of an artist, there was a more run of the mill style of painting which already enjoyed a vast clientéle at all levels of society.

   • 2001, Gabrielle Lord, Death Delights, 2002, unnumbered page,

     Or even more run-of-the-mill murders which usually turn out to be family or business affairs and where someone's usually heard something or, in the case of the more professional killings, someone wants to do a deal.

Antonyms

• (ordinary): cream of the crop

Translations

See also

• common-or-garden (standard)

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?st?m(?)?i/

Noun

customary (plural customaries)

1. A book containing laws and usages, or customs; a custumal.

Translations

Adjective

customary (comparative more customary, superlative most customary)

1. In accordance with, or established by, custom or common usage

   Synonyms: conventional, habitual

   • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

2. Holding or held by custom

Synonyms

• wont

Derived terms

• customarily

Related terms

• consuetude
• costumal
• costume
• custom
• customer
• customization
• customize

Translations