quotidian

adjective

quo·​tid·​i·​an kwō-ˈti-dē-ən 

1

: occurring every day

quotidian fever

2

a

: belonging to each day : everyday

quotidian routine

b

: commonplace, ordinary

quotidian drabness

quotidian noun

Did you know?

In William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, the character Rosalind observes that Orlando, who has been running about in the woods carving her name on trees and hanging love poems on branches, "seems to have the quotidian of love upon him." The Bard's use doesn't make it clear that quotidian derives from a Latin word that means "every day." But as odd as it may seem, his use of quotidian is just a short semantic step away from the "daily" adjective sense. Some fevers occur intermittently—sometimes daily. The phrase "quotidian fever" and the noun quotidian have long been used for such recurring maladies. Poor Orlando is simply afflicted with such a "fever" of love.

Synonyms

• common
• common or garden [chiefly British]
• commonplace
• everyday
• familiar
• frequent
• garden-variety
• household
• ordinary
• routine
• ubiquitous
• usual

Examples of quotidian in a Sentence

not content with the quotidian quarrels that other couples had, they had rows that shook the entire neighborhood

plagued by a quotidian coughing fit, the result of years of smoking

Recent Examples on the Web

As the mom of two small kids with a demanding job, my life is both quotidian and fairly labor-intensive. —Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 20 Oct. 2023

To fans of Ernest Hood’s 1975 private-press classic Neighborhoods, or the black-and-white documentary films of Frederick Wiseman, the album’s lo-fi patina is imbued with an unmistakable quotidian warmth. —Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2023

Ultimately, the beauty creators offered a behind-the-scenes look at how these top glam squads find quotidian ways to keep their creativity thriving. —Eda Yu, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Nov. 2023

Yet the challenge of our quotidian existence is to behave decently even when the spirit isn’t moving us. —Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023

One of his first artistic themes was life on the road, life on the run, the quotidian experience of a professional athlete, forever in airplanes, in unfamiliar cities, checking into and out of hotels. —John McPhee, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023

Other influences also materialize, including the multimedia works of proto-Pop painters such as Robert Rauschenberg, who integrated news clippings and other objects onto his canvas, and Jasper Johns, whose textured canvases of flags, targets and maps rendered quotidian objects enigmatic. —Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023

For more quotidian cancellations—those that don’t grab the attention of every media outlet on the planet—the process can be more difficult. —Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 24 Sep. 2023

Much of the novel depicts, with exquisite detail, the prosaic patterns of Ruth and Lily’s home life—quotidian routines between grandmother and granddaughter that are mildly intoxicating. —Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Middle English cotidian, from Anglo-French, from Latin quotidianus, cotidianus, from quotidie every day, from quot (as) many as + dies day — more at deity

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

quotidian

1 of 2 adjective

quo·​tid·​i·​an kwō-ˈtid-ē-ən 

: occurring every day

quotidian fever

quotidian

2 of 2 noun

: something (as an intermittent fever) that occurs each day