Usual means typical, normal, or what regularly happens. Your usual breakfast might be cereal and orange juice: that's what you eat most mornings. A store's usual hours might be 9 AM to 6 PM: that's when it's normally open. When something is usual, it's what you expect because that's how things generally are.

The opposite of usual is unusual, which means different from normal. If your normally quiet friend suddenly becomes chatty and energetic, that's unusual behavior for them. If it snows in July in Texas, that's definitely unusual weather.

People often say things like “as usual” to mean something happened the expected way: “As usual, my brother forgot his homework.” The phrase “business as usual” means things are continuing normally despite some change or disruption. After a fire drill, your teacher might say “Okay, back to business as usual” to signal that regular classwork is resuming.

When something becomes usual, you sometimes stop noticing it. The sound of traffic outside your window might seem loud at first, but it becomes usual after you've lived there a while. That's why experiencing something unusual can feel surprising or exciting: it breaks the pattern of what's typical.