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usual

[yoo-zhoo-uhl, yoozh-wuhl]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

habitual or customary: her usual skill.

commonly met with or observed in experience; ordinary: the usual January weather.

commonplace; everyday: He says the usual things.

noun

something that is usual: He could expect only the usual.

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Usual is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idiom

as usual, in the customary or usual manner: As usual, he forgot my birthday.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin ūsuālis, equivalent to Latin ūsu-, stem of ūsus use (see use (noun)) + -ālis -al¹; compare Old French usuel

Related forms

u·su·al·ly, adverb

u·su·al·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. accustomed. Usual, customary, habitual refer to a settled and constant practice. Usual indicates something that is to be expected by reason of previous experience, which shows it to occur more often than not: There were the usual crowds at the celebration. Something that is customary is in accordance with prevailing usage or individual practice: It is customary to finish up with a bonfire. That which is habitual has become settled or constant as the result of habit on the part of the individual: The merchants wore habitual smiles throughout the season. 2. general, prevailing, prevalent, familiar, regular. 3. expected, predictable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To usual

Example Sentences

More than half the colleges in a new survey report that more students than usual are asking for additional financial aid.

The usual accelerators of recession are absent-but so are the brakes.

Today he has a cold, and the circles under his eyes are darker than usual.

EXPAND

More than half the colleges in a new survey report that more students than usual are asking for additional financial aid.

The usual accelerators of recession are absent-but so are the brakes.

Today he has a cold, and the circles under his eyes are darker than usual.

Thus, this sequence is as legitimate as the usual one.

And yet, when you think of it, this remarkable piece of cloth fails many usual tests of value.

Blended raspberries and tequila make a terrific variation to the usual daquerie.

But the usual critiques fail to recognize its potential for experiential learning.

Usual advising, committee, and other non-teaching duties.

It may not amend the plan or vote on individual items, as is usual.

That's because our cosmic neighbor will be much closer than usual.

Once the piece is done, the musicians disperse, and its business as usual at the station.

Instead of the usual red flag, a lobster claw signals that there's mail to be picked up.

And remember that high elevations make hiking more difficult than usual.

The search has the usual bells and whistles to refine searches and a nifty map.

But it also means that college doesn't provide the usual escape from the realities of the job market.

When production resumes, it is likely to be at a faster clip than usual.

Densely packed mudflats are the usual habitat for this species of mangrove.

Appearances aside, producing this image was technically more challenging than my usual fare.

Flashy capes and skintight garments are the usual accouterments of comic book superheroes.

Rosy lilac is the usual color, but white and purple selections are available.

His debut as director comes with the usual existential despair, absurdist humor, and intellectual mischief.

The culprit is the usual one, water, but almost everything else about this forthcoming renovation is surprising.

Companies would then buy cheap credits and continue doing business as usual rather than cutting their own emissions.

Sleeping cattle and horses are their usual victims, but they have been known to feed on people as well.

It seems to me that you are angry that people are not producing science that is up to your usual standard of truth.

Below, a note advises check writers to use their dental records in lieu of the usual forms of identification.

When it's time to replace the usual suspects, make healthier choices––for you and the planet more.

So there's a fair chance that kitty might relax her usual haughty rules and deign to play with this cat toy.

He is not about business as usual and neither was his symposium.

The usual reason people support awful leaders is that all of the alternatives are worse.

Besides the usual slowdowns, this was a pretty painless story.

So creative compared to the usual macro insect images.

I've added several garden seats lately, going beyond the usual suspects of table and chairs on the patio.

It was a busy year, both for the usual suspects and some volcanoes that erupted seemingly out of the blue.

These services are vital for improving student learning, but they are a relatively small part of the usual teaching-center.

Rainfall is at a fraction of its usual levels, heat at historical highs.

She was an artist and had a studio nearby, and she had gone out for her usual lunchtime walk.

If you're okay with the usual freesias and sparaxis, there's no rush to purchase.

Many critics complained over the years that he was not really a historian, but the usual alternative category was polemicist.

They suggested some of the usual rules of evidence might be relaxed, but not be vitiated.

He filled it with smooth rock instead of the usual rubble.

Lovely in combination with lavenders in the more usual hues.

The flames originated justbefore the usual hour for morning service.

As usual with these delegations, they tend to be a.

And for field producers, a suit and tie is not usual attire.

She had tried all the usual medications, with little success.

She saw all the usual sights, but her favorite story was about riding in the same elevator with.

When it's time to replace the usual suspects, make healthier choices––for you and the planet.

Although the usual war effort posters are well represented.

It was early in the tourist season, and a particularly cold austral winter had resulted in even more sea ice than usual.

She expected to do so in the usual way, by slowly accruing results that would eventually alter the.

And those of you who received your magazine in the mail may have noticed that it was not wrapped in the usual white paper.

If your usual chicken recipes are in need of an upgrade, these tasty meals are sure to put the pep back in your poultry fast.

There was a bumpy start this week, but as usual though the puzzle geeks weathered the storm of typos.

Visiting your usual fishing ground, you bring in an unusually good catch of.

Fish and reptiles are their usual prey, but a human works fine, too.

Rachel told her that she had lost a tooth and, following the usual procedure, put it under her pillow.

Johnsbury distillery that makes vodka from the fermented sugars of maple sap instead of potatoes or grain, the usual suspects.

Conversations about late-season color in the mixed border usually circle around the usual suspects: mums and dahlias.

Your family wants more than the usual share of your attention.

So the usual outcome is much mud, toil and sweat, little movement and no score.

Besides the usual spoils of war, the conquerors sought human captives, which were essential for a king to maintain power.

The act of dreaming is simply thinking about our usual concerns in a different state of consciousness.

But second, your makers actually announced a respectable design philosophy at odds with the usual luxury gadget pap.

They are less usual when waiting to hear a religious preacher.

It also has a large rounded mound in its middle, rather than the usual conical uplift.

The usual approach with hardscaping this contemporary is to plant equally sparingly.

So the contents were infused with the usual bacteriophages and microsymbiotes.

They specialize in customers who need accommodations longer than a usual hotel stay.

Biblical downpours brought mildew, causing many growers to spend about three times as much as usual on spraying their vineyards.

With all the heat produced from cooking a giant feast, your house will be warmer than usual.

It processes the five usual senses simultaneously, not forgetting balance and the other overlooked functions such as breathing.

Because you are standing, you get a full body workout instead of the usual giant calves of serious cyclists.

We know that business as usual is no longer an acceptable student-success strategy.

The city's researchers first turned to the usual suspects, such as air pollution, pollen and mould.

As usual with the onset of summer, the high country was in vertical flood.

He then stays awake until his usual bed time the following evening.

There was the usual outbreak of garden-variety seasonal influenza but not of the new strain.

And then it's on to the usual calls about alien-human hybrids, spiritual visitations and global conspiracies.

The usual procudure is to accept orally, then the written contact etc is sorted out by.

But it stands out even more than usual amid the drab communist-era.

However, some fears are stronger than usual and become phobias.

The usual pattern is for a rise in the incidence of flu in children, which precedes an increase in the adult population.

There's even a hole ready to be filled with your smartphone, for the usual kind of cyclo-computer shenanigans.

Ten years ago his usual catch would have been enough to feed his family for a day.

Eating something fatty at the zig-zag rainbow vision distortion stage seems to prevent the usual blinding headache and nausea.

In keeping with the times, both galas were lower-key affairs than usual.

The meltdown forms clouds that can make more snowfall than usual.

The usual horizons of black holes would form in loop quantum gravity, but light would be trapped only for a finite period.

The usual explanation for the existence of the premium ran as follows.

It's kind of an interesting topic in a sort of way that it's not the usual thing that you see sometimes in books.

The foregoing should not be construed as a harangue against satellites or space flight or any of the usual.

There are the usual entry methods: from visitors, corrupt guards or in packages hurled over the fence.

And to curb my usual exaggerated and unjustifiable optimism and empathy.

The usual form after your party has had an electoral thrashing is to appear on television looking ashen.

Kids are an exception and can discreetly drink and eat as usual.

And the worms didn't get old at their usual pace and then hang on longer-they actually aged more slowly.

Burying trash-the usual way of disposing of the stuff-is old-fashioned and polluting.

Nicotine addicted alcoholic reproduces in the usual manner.

Some voters, it seems, were turned away by polling stations ill prepared to cope with a turnout that was higher than usual.

When the fingers slipped up, they paused a split second longer than usual before typing the next letter.

For another, the wheels of justice ground more slowly than usual this time.

No doubt after another five minutes of research the usual suspects will be announcing human influence over this process.

The surprise is how many of the reactions crossed the usual political boundaries.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

usual (ˈjuːʒʊəl)

—*adj*
1.	of the most normal, frequent, or regular type; customary: that's the usual sort of application to send

—n
2.	ordinary or commonplace events (esp in the phrase out of the usual)
3.	informal the usual the habitual or usual drink, meal, etc

[C14: from Late Latin ūsuālis ordinary, from Latin ūsususe]

'usualness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

usual

late 14c., from O.Fr. usuel (late 13c.), from L.L. usualis "ordinary," from L. usus "custom" (see use). The adv. form usually is attested from late 15c. The usual suspects is from a line delivered by Claude Rains (as a French police inspector) in "Casablanca" (1942).

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

usual

see as usual; business as usual.

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"It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his Neighbour."

-Joseph Addison

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