common carrier

American  

noun

1. Transportation. (in federal regulatory and other legal usage) a carrier offering its services at published rates to all persons for interstate transportation.

2. a public service or public utility company, as a telephone or telegraph company, engaged in the transmitting of messages for the public.

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common carrier British  

noun

1. a person or firm engaged in the business of transporting goods or passengers

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common carrier Cultural  

1. A company or individual providing public transportation on a regular basis in return for a fee that is uniformly charged to all users.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• common-carrier
  adjective
• common carriage
  noun

Example Sentences

“It would undercut safety and be the opposite of good business, the opposite of fulfilling the common carrier obligation, and the opposite of meeting the congressional commandment to serve the public.”

From Seattle Times • Mar. 1, 2024

That if you want your voice heard, Twitter is really the only game in town, and so it has become a common carrier.

From Slate • Sep. 27, 2022

That was the only thing Jeanine had consumed, and it was a common carrier of Cronobacter.

From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2022

We cannot stress this enough: No, an Ohio judge did not declare Google a common carrier this week.

From Washington Post • May 26, 2022

A sleeping car company operating in connection with ordinary trains is not a common carrier, nor an innkeeper as to the baggage of a passenger.

From Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman by Bolles, Albert Sidney