Meaning & use
a normal person
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountable
an ordinary person with typical habits, feelings, or abilities
Grammar: Countable noun phrase: a normal person, normal people.
Patterns
- like a normal person
- just a normal person
Despite his fame, he insists he is just a normal person who enjoys watching football.
She wants to live like a normal person, without photographers following her everywhere.
A normal person would find that amount of work exhausting.
phrasecountablemedical
someone who is mentally or physically healthy, as opposed to someone with a condition
Grammar: Often used in medical or psychological contexts, though it can be insensitive.
Patterns
- a normal person would…
- compare with a normal person
The doctor explained how the disease affects the body compared with a normal person.
The test measures reaction times in patients and in a normal person of the same age.
Word forms
| plural | normal people |
|---|
Common combinations
- just a normal person
- He keeps saying he is just a normal person who got lucky.
- like a normal person
- I just want to go to the store like a normal person.
- a perfectly normal person
- She seemed like a perfectly normal person until she mentioned her unusual hobby.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ordinary person
- Ordinary person is close in meaning but focuses on being unremarkable, while normal person often contrasts with being unusual or famous.
- average person
- Average person suggests a typical or statistically middle person, often used in comparisons and statistics.
- regular person
- Regular person is informal and friendly, stressing that someone is not special or elite.
Opposites
Commonly confused: a normal person or normal?
a normal person vs normal
Normal is an adjective, so you say 'a normal person', not 'a normal'. The noun 'normal' exists only in phrases like 'return to normal'.
Practice
After the scandal, the actress said she just wanted to be treated like ______.
Choose one answer.
'Like' is a preposition and needs a noun phrase, so 'a normal person' is correct. 'Normal' alone is an adjective and cannot follow 'like' here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a normal person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.