common
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: kŏm'ən
ipa: /ˈkɒm.ən/
enpr: kä'mən
ipa: /ˈkɑ.mən/
ipa: /ˈkɑ.mɪn/
enpr: kŏm'ŭn
ipa: /ˈkɒm.ʌn/
rhymes: -ɒmən
Forms: form: commoner
form: most common
form: commonest
Etymology: From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina and mean.
Senses: examples: text: The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship.
text: Winning the championship is an aim common to the two competitors.
text: Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:
glosses: Mutual; shared by more than one.
examples: text: common knowledge, common decency, common sense
text: No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it.
ref: 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 197:
glosses: Of a quality: existing among virtually all people; universal.
examples: text: It is common to find sharks off this coast.
text: Thus it is sayde in the cōmon vsage.
ref: 1530?, Robert Wyer, This boke is named the beaulte of women : translated out of Frenche in to Englysshe., page 8:
english: Thus it is said in the common usage.
translation: Thus it is said in the common usage.
bold_translation_offsets: 23
29
text: That loss is common would not make
⁠My own less bitter, rather more:
⁠Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
text: Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
ref: 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:
glosses: Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.
examples: text: "Commoner" used to be commoner, but "more common" is now more common.
text: Sharks are common in these waters.
text: It differs from the common blackbird in the size of its beak.
text: Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)
ref: 2012 March 23, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128:
text: Machine learning was the most common method of AI listed in patent requests.
ref: 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
text: In our daily-diary studies, one source of awe was by far the most common: other people. Regular acts of courage—bystanders defusing fights, subordinates standing up to abusive power holders—inspired awe.
ref: 2023 January 3, Dacher Keltner, “The Quiet Profundity of Everyday Awe”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2023:
glosses: Found in large numbers or in a large quantity; usual.
examples: text: the common folk
text: This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: above the vulgar flight of common souls
ref: 1768, Arthur Murphy, Zenobia:
text: Mr. Crackit (for he it was) had no very great quantity of hair, either upon his head or face, but what he had was of a reddish dye, and tortured into long corkscrew curls, through which he occasionally thrust some very dirty fingers ornamented with large common rings.
ref: 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Burglary”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 35:
text: Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
ref: 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:
text: If it be asked wherein the utility of some modern extensions of mathematics lies, it must be acknowledged that it is at present difficult to see how they are ever to become applicable to questions of common life or physical science.
ref: 1893, Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematics:
text: She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
ref: 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:
glosses: Simple, ordinary or vulgar.
examples: text: the common daisy (Bellis perennis)
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: As part of the vernacular name of a species, usually denoting that it is abundant or widely known.
examples: common name vs. scientific name.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal.
examples: text: common law
text: As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]
ref: 1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469:
topics: law
glosses: Arising from use or tradition, as opposed to being created by a legislative body.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Of, pertaining or belonging to the common gender.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Of or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.
examples: text: What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:15:
glosses: Profane; polluted.
examples: text: a Dame who her self was as Common as the King's High Way
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Given to lewd habits; prostitute.
Synonyms: sense: mutual
word: mutual
word: shared
word: joint
sense: usual
word: normal
word: ordinary
word: standard
word: usual
sense: occurring in large numbers or in a large quantity
word: widespread
word: widespread
sense: ordinary
word: common-or-garden
word: everyday
word: normal
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: antonym of proper
word: appellative
word: average
word: banal
word: basic
word: bog standard
word: common
word: common as bums
word: common as muck
word: commonplace
word: common or garden variety
word: conventional
word: dime a dozen
word: familiar
word: garden variety
word: general
word: nonrare
word: par for the course
word: pedestrian
word: plain
word: plain Jane
word: plain vanilla
word: quotidian
word: regular
word: routinary
word: routine
word: standard issue
word: ten a penny
word: two a penny
word: typical
word: run-of-the-mill
word: workaday
Related terms: topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
word: feminine
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
word: female
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
word: masculine
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
word: male
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: gender of coalescence of masculine of feminine
word: neuter
word: government issue
word: wild type
word: frequency
word: bare-bones
word: boring
word: hackneyed
word: mediocre