Meanings
comparative more unexceptional · superlative most unexceptional
- Not exceptional.
Uncle Shemp was alarmingly unexceptional. He had no detectable lifestyle, and his only accomplishment was the fact that he was a lifelong member of the general public.
2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 2861 more example
In the other direction, treatments that were decried in their time as paving the road to hell, including vaccination, transfusions, anesthesia, artificial insemination, organ transplants, and in-vitro fertilization, have become unexceptional boons to human well-being.
2015 August 1, Steven Pinker, “The moral imperative for bioethics”, in The Boston Globe, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2015Synonyms: lackluster, pedestrian, mundane, plain, average, comme ci comme ça, crappy, moderate · Antonyms: exceptional
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot exceptional.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenot special in any way; lacking distinction
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
- Proto-Italic*eks
- Latinex
- Latinex-
- Proto-Indo-European*kap-
- Proto-Indo-European*kapyéti
- Proto-Italic*kapjō
- Latincapiō
- Latinexcipiō
- Latinexceptiō
- Old Frenchexcepcion
- Anglo-Normanexcepcioun
- Middle Englishexception
- Englishexception
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishexceptional
- Englishunexceptional
From un- + exceptional.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
unexceptional. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unexceptional
“unexceptional.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unexceptional. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unexceptional,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unexceptional.
Source: unexceptional on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.