common
belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question: common property;common interests.
pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture;public: a common language or history;a common water-supply system.
widespread; general; universal: common knowledge.
lacking rank, station, distinction, etc.; unexceptional; ordinary: a common soldier;common people;the common man;a common thief.
Dialect. friendly; sociable; unaffected.
Anatomy. forming or formed by two or more parts or branches: the common carotid arteries.
Prosody. (of a syllable) able to be considered as either long or short.
Grammar.
not belonging to an inflectional paradigm; fulfilling different functions that in some languages require different inflected forms: English nouns are in the common case whether used as subject or object.
constituting one of two genders of a language, especially a gender comprising nouns that were formerly masculine or feminine: Swedish nouns are either common or neuter.
noting a word that may refer to either a male or a female: French élève has common gender. English lacks a common gender pronoun in the third person singular.
(of a noun) belonging to the common gender.
Mathematics. bearing a similar relation to two or more entities.
of, relating to, or being common stock: common shares.
Often commons. Chiefly New England. a tract of land owned or used jointly by the residents of a community, usually a central square or park in a city or town.
Law. the right or liberty, in common with other persons, to take profit from the land or waters of another, as by pasturing animals on another's land (common of pasturage ) or fishing in another's waters (common of piscary ).
commons, (used with a singular or plural verb)
the commonalty; the nonruling class.
the body of people not of noble birth or not ennobled, as represented in England by the House of Commons.
Commons, the representatives of this body.
Commons, the House of Commons.
commons,
(used with a singular verb) a large dining room, especially at a university or college.
(usually used with a plural verb)British. food provided in such a dining room.
(usually used with a plural verb) food or provisions for any group.
Sometimes Commons .Ecclesiastical.
an office or form of service used on a festival of a particular kind.
the ordinary of the Mass, especially those parts sung by the choir.
the part of the missal and breviary containing Masses and offices of those saints assigned to them.
Obsolete.
the community or public.
the common people.
Idioms about common
in common, in joint possession or use; shared equally: They have a love of adventure in common.
Origin of common
1synonym study For common
Other words for common
Opposites for common
Other words from common
- com·mon·ness, noun
- o·ver·com·mon, adjective
- o·ver·com·mon·ly, adverb
- o·ver·com·mon·ness, noun
- quasi-common, adjective
- qua·si-com·mon·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use common in a sentence
Just as most happy eras are alike in similar ways, periods of darkness have more in common than they’re usually given credit for, and London in the early ’80s seems a not-so-distant reality from one we’re very familiar with.
Almost anarchy: The Style Council and the smooth sounds of sophisti-pop | Mina Tavakoli | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostNow, 84 years later, sprouts are as common as broccoli and kale, and the only still-novel thing about them may be how they grow.
A guide to Brussels sprouts: How to choose, store, season and cook the versatile vegetable | Daniela Galarza | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThis method is common for other types of at-home diagnostics, such as pregnancy tests.
The FDA just okayed a rapid at-home COVID test—but it won’t work for everyone | Tara Santora | November 20, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThese include software that can translate between 100 languages without using a common intermediary.
Facebook’s A.I. is getting better at finding malicious content—but it won’t solve the company’s problems | Jeremy Kahn | November 19, 2020 | FortuneThe most common type of ant that people find in their homes on the East Coast and in the Midwest is called the odorous house ant, and when squished, it releases a pheromone that smells like blue cheese.
Why can some people smell ants? Here’s the answer to TikTok’s latest mystery. | Rachael Zisk | November 18, 2020 | Popular-Science
It seemed as if Professor Theobald had suddenly become a stranger to her, whom she criticised, whose commonness of fibre, ah me!
The Daughters of Danaus | Mona CairdCommonness vanished before Ewart, at his expository touch all things became memorable and rare.
Tono Bungay | H. G. WellsThis commonness of experience and of present effort had made him seem very near to her—very attainable.
To Him That Hath | Leroy ScottThe objection to machine products is often formulated as an objection to the commonness of such goods.
The Theory of the Leisure Class | Thorstein VeblenIn it one rises to the stillness of production, wherein one bathes in mystery and potency and all commonness is cleansed away.
The Hive | Will Levington Comfort
British Dictionary definitions for common
/ (ˈkɒmən) /
belonging to or shared by two or more people: common property
belonging to or shared by members of one or more nations or communities; public: a common culture
of ordinary standard; average: common decency
prevailing; widespread: common opinion
widely known or frequently encountered; ordinary: a common brand of soap
widely known and notorious: a common nuisance
derogatory considered by the speaker to be low-class, vulgar, or coarse: a common accent
(prenominal) having no special distinction, rank, or status: the common man
maths
having a specified relationship with a group of numbers or quantities: common denominator
(of a tangent) tangential to two or more circles
prosody (of a syllable) able to be long or short, or (in nonquantitative verse) stressed or unstressed
grammar (in certain languages) denoting or belonging to a gender of nouns, esp one that includes both masculine and feminine referents: Latin sacerdos is common
anatomy
having branches: the common carotid artery
serving more than one function: the common bile duct
Christianity of or relating to the common of the Mass or divine office
common or garden informal ordinary; unexceptional
(sometimes plural) a tract of open public land, esp one now used as a recreation area
law the right to go onto someone else's property and remove natural products, as by pasturing cattle or fishing (esp in the phrase right of common)
Christianity
a form of the proper of the Mass used on festivals that have no special proper of their own
the ordinary of the Mass
archaic the ordinary people; the public, esp those undistinguished by rank or title
in common mutually held or used with another or others
Origin of common
1- See also commons
Derived forms of common
- commonness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with common
In addition to the idioms beginning with common
- common cause
- common ground
- common touch, the
also see:
- in common
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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