workaday

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈwɝ.kə.deɪ/ UK /ˈwɜː.kə.deɪ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
ordinary, everyday, and unremarkable; mundane

He longed to escape the workaday routine of the office.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · ordinary, everyday, and... mundane ordinary everyday routine commonplace prosaic humdrum

Opposites

extraordinary special exceptional remarkable

Word family

Related forms work day

Etymology

An alteration of Middle English werkeday ('a working day, weekday'), from work + day; the figurative sense 'ordinary, mundane' developed by extension. From Old English weorc and dæg.

weorc Old English dæg Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# workaday

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈwɝ.kə.deɪ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈwɜː.kə.deɪ/

## Meanings
1. ordinary, everyday, and unremarkable; mundane

## Examples
- He longed to escape the workaday routine of the office.

## Synonyms
- mundane
- ordinary
- everyday
- routine
- commonplace
- prosaic
- humdrum

## Antonyms
- extraordinary
- special
- exceptional
- remarkable

## Related Forms
- work
- day

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: weorc
- Root: dæg

## Etymology
An alteration of Middle English werkeday ('a working day, weekday'), from work + day; the figurative sense 'ordinary, mundane' developed by extension. From Old English weorc and dæg.

## AI Etymology
Workaday is an alteration of Middle English werkeday ('a working day, weekday'), from work + day; the figurative sense 'ordinary, mundane' developed by extension. From Old English weorc and dæg. In current use it is an adjective meaning "ordinary, everyday, and unremarkable; mundane". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The historical chain includes Old English weorc and Old English dæg. Related English forms include work and day. The semantic development is therefore important as well as the form: the word moves from the older concrete, technical, or literal setting into the present figurative or specialized sense.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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