commonplace
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).
Inflected forms:
form: more commonplace
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most commonplace
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: common place
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: common-place
pos: adj
tags: alternative
archaic
form: commonplaces
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: common place
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: common-place
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: commonplaces
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: commonplacing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: commonplaced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: commonplaced
pos: verb
tags: past
form: common place
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: common-place
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.
pos: adj
examples: "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."
In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,[…], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
I could get hold of nothing but of some commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our impotence before each other's trials.
Commonplace sounds had turned into threats.
In the old days, hopping onto the platform from a not-yet-stopped train was a commonplace stunt for daily commuters in a hurry.
gloss: A platitude or cliché.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.
And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
gloss: Something that is ordinary; something commonly done or occurring.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: It is odd how easily the common-places of morality or of sentiment glide off in conversation. Well, they are "exceedingly helpful," and so Lord Avonleigh found them.
"MY dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker-street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence.[…]"
And, placed discreetly among these commonplaces, a few pieces of genuine quality, bizarrely distinguished by craftsmanship from the vulgar products of the machine.
The smallest commonplace of domestic life, so amiable to the healthy mind, lacerates like a blade.
Collecting data via transects is a commonplace in biology[.]
gloss: A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of common-place.
gloss: A commonplace book.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To make a commonplace book.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the […]historians.
gloss: To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
c. January 1620, Francis Bacon, letter to the King
For the good that comes of particular and select committees and commissions, I need not commonplace.
Related words: commonplace book
Translations: