Meaning & use
usual
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Happening or done most of the time; what you would normally expect in a given situation.
Grammar: Before a noun or after be: my usual route, it is not usual to arrive late.
Patterns
- it is usual to do something
- more than usual
- as usual
She took her usual seat by the window.
It is usual for the shop to close at six.
He was quieter than usual at dinner.
nounsingularinformal
The drink, meal or routine that someone regularly chooses or expects, mentioned with 'the' without saying what it is.
Grammar: Always used with 'the' in casual speech: the usual, please.
Patterns
- the usual
Morning, Sam, the usual?
I'll have the usual, thanks.
They brought out the usual before I even sat down.
Word forms
| comparative | more usual |
|---|---|
| superlative | most usual |
Common combinations
- as usual
- As usual, the bus was late.
- than usual
- I woke up earlier than usual today.
- business as usual
- Despite the storm, it was business as usual at the bakery.
- the usual suspects
- The usual suspects showed up early to the meeting.
Synonyms and how they differ
- normal
- Normal can mean healthy or standard, while usual only refers to what tends to happen.
- customary
- Customary is more formal and links to tradition or habit.
- habitual
- Habitual suggests a deep, repeated habit, often of a person, and can sound slightly negative.
- typical
- Typical means representative of a type, not necessarily repeated by one person.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: usual or usually?
usual vs usually
Usual is an adjective (my usual seat), while usually is an adverb (I usually sit here).
Practice
We arrived later ______ and missed the opening speech.
Choose one answer.
After a comparative idea ('later') you need 'than usual'; 'as usual' would need a different structure, and 'usually' is an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “usual”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.