Englishunexceptional
adjective
an adequate but unexceptional hotel:
ordinary, average, typical, common, everyday, run-of-the-mill, middle-of-the-road, stock, mediocre, so-so, pedestrian, unremarkable, undistinguished, indifferent, unimpressive;
adequate, acceptable, tolerable, decent, unpretentious;
informal OK, nothing special, nothing to write home about, no great shakes, not much cop, fair-to-middling, bog standard.
▷antonyms exceptional, noteworthy.
| easily confused words | unexceptional or unexceptionable? |
| The clear distinction in meaning between exceptionable (‘open to objection’) and exceptional (‘out of the ordinary; very good’) has become blurred in the negative forms unexceptionable and unexceptional. Strictly speaking, unexceptionable means ‘not open to objection’, as in this view is unexceptionable in itself, while unexceptional means ‘not outstanding’, as in the hotel was adequate but unexceptional. However, unexceptionable is often used in contexts where it could equally well mean ‘ordinary’, as in the food was bland and unexceptionable. | |