ordinary people► ordinary ordinary people are people who are not rich, famous, or powerful: ordinary people/folk: · Politicians don't care about ordinary people.· In the eighteenth century ordinary people had no access whatsoever to education.ordinary guy/man/woman etc: · In the film "Phenomenon", John Travolta plays an ordinary guy who becomes a genius overnight.
► average an average person is a typical example of a person: · The average family spends about £50 a week on food.· Foreign affairs do not usually interest the average voter.· There is concern that twenty years from now, the average American won't be able to afford to send his or her children to college.
► the man/woman in the street a typical person who has ordinary opinions, likes the same things as most other people etc -- used especially by journalists: · The advertising industry has to know exactly what the man in the street is thinking.· This latest legislation will not really affect the man or woman in the street.
► the general public all the ordinary people in a society or country, especially those without special knowledge of a subject: · Very little official information is given to the general public.· She is a poet who is admired by other poets but not well-known to the general public.· Organizers of the President's funeral plan a large ceremony for the general public, and a small, private affair for his family.
► the rank and file the ordinary members of an organization, especially a political organization, when compared with its leaders: · The rank and file has lost confidence in the party leadership.· conflict between union leaders and the rank and file at an Alfa Romeo factory
► the grass roots the ordinary members at the bottom of a political or religious organization: · The decisions were taken by the party leadership without consulting the grass roots.