Extraordinary
What it means
Far outside the ordinary level in quality, difficulty, or achievement.
Reach for it when giving strong praise to something genuinely uncommon
The rescue required extraordinary courage, coordination, and patience.
Words to choose between 7
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday |
|
| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
-
playful
beyond belief
Fits when astonishment is intentionally exaggerated
Careful The phrase challenges credibility and is unsuitable for factual reporting.
-
playful
Fits when spectacular success suits exuberant speech
Careful The word is promotional and easily outruns the available evidence.
-
everyday
unusual
Fits when rarity is the only claim the evidence supports
Careful Unusual merely marks rarity; it cannot stand in for praise.
-
professional
Fits when a person or result stands well above a standard
Careful Exceptional depends on comparison and can also mean merely excluded from a rule.
-
professional
Fits when a quality deserves special notice
Careful Remarkable is measured and can describe unusual facts that are not excellent.
-
formal
Fits when immense output, ability, or effort is meant
Careful Prodigious emphasizes quantity or power, not the full range of extraordinary qualities.
-
literary
singular
Fits when uniqueness or distinctive merit deserves elegance
Careful Singular is unfamiliar to some readers and can mean simply odd.
Opposites 4
- ordinary
- commonplace
- unremarkable
- average
Common phrases 3
-
extraordinary achievement
Reopening the canal by hand was an extraordinary achievement.
-
extraordinary effort
Extraordinary effort kept every resident supplied during the closure.
-
truly extraordinary
The choir's recovery after the flood was truly extraordinary.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated