usual

As typically happens; as is usually the case. As per usual, my boyfriend didn't call me like he said he would. I'll be eating lunch outside on the picnic table, as per usual.

As is typical; as often happens. Sam is ignoring me, as usual. I wonder if he'll ever forgive me. The writers' group is meeting at the coffee shop on Saturday morning, as usual.

The typical proceedings. The phrase is sometimes but not always used to indicate that things have returned to normal after something unforeseen or unpleasant has happened. Once these auditors are out of our hair, we can get back to business as usual. A: "How are things at the office?" B: "Business as usual. Nothing exciting has happened lately."

The standard, average, or typical type of something. The unorthodox politician is seen by many as a rebuke to the usual run of bureaucrats, who spend more time debating and arguing than actually accomplishing anything meaningful. While the usual run of stuff you find in a flea market is junk, every now and then you come across something really valuable.

The people one would expect to be involved in something. I expect misbehavior from the usual suspects, but even my quiet kids were acting up in class today. Let's have a game night! Call the usual suspects and I'll order pizza.

as is the normal or typical situation. John ordered eggs for breakfast, as usual. He stood quietly as usual, waiting for the bus to come.

having things go along as usual. Even right after the flood, it was business as usual in all the stores. Please, everyone, business as usual. Let's get back to work.

In the normal, habitual, or accustomed way, as in As usual, he forgot to put away the milk. This idiom was first recorded in 1716. Also see business as usual.

The normal course of some activity, as in The fire destroyed only a small section of the store, so it's business as usual. This term originated as an announcement that a commercial establishment was continuing to operate in spite of fire, construction, or some similar interruption. It had been extended to broader use by 1914, when Winston Churchill said in a speech: "The maxim of the British people is 'Business as usual,'" which became a slogan for the rest of World War I. Today it may be used in this positive sense and also pejoratively, as in Never mind that most civilians are starving to death-the ministry regards its job to be business as usual . [Late 1800s]

You say business as usual to mean that everything is continuing in the normal way, even though something unpleasant or unexpected has happened. Asked if the President was trying to suggest it was business as usual, Mr Fitzwater replied: It is business as usual; this isn't the kind of crisis that requires us to drop everything else. If these guys are convicted, it could be the beginning of a real change. If they're not, it's business as usual.

As commonly or habitually happens: As usual, I slept late that Saturday morning.

Proceeding as though things were normal when they actually are not. Presumably this expression came from the practice of posting a notice in an establishment announcing that its operations were continuing despite construction, fire, or some other hampering circumstance. From the time Winston Churchill said, in a speech in November 1914, “The maxim of the British people is ‘Business as usual,’” the expression was a slogan for the remainder of World War I. It later came to be used as a criticism—as, for example, when a public policy is continued even though it is no longer desirable or appropriate—and for blind complacency.