View synonyms for

run-of-the-mill

[ ruhn-uhv-thuh-mil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

merely average; commonplace; mediocre:
just a plain, run-of-the-mill house; a run-of-the-mill performance.
Synonyms: , ,

run-of-the-mill

adjective

ordinary, average, or undistinguished in quality, character, or nature; not special or excellent

run of the mill

Common, ordinary, average: “His performance in the game was neither exemplary nor disastrous; it was simply run of the mill.”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of run-of-the-mill¹

First recorded in 1925–30

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Idioms and Phrases

Ordinary, average, as in There's nothing special about these singers—they're just run of the mill . This expression alludes to fabrics coming directly from a mill without having been sorted or inspected for quality. It has survived such similar phrases as run of the mine and run of the kiln , for the products of mines and kilns. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He said filming for Gavin and Stacey originally began as we was entering his 60s and "was just beginning to calm down and become a bit more of a regular, run-of-the-mill human being".

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Their choice of peppers isn’t your run-of-the-mill jalapeños or habaneros.

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“The message from Adam’s case is that if you’re going to indict some run-of-the-mill CEO of a company, you need to check if he’s a Trump supporter first,” the former prosecutor said.

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A movie on this story needed to embrace unconventional moves and not feel like just another run-of-the-mill documentary.

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All to watch a mundane, routine, run-of-the-mill workout.

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

run-of-paper run-of-the-mine

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