commoner

American  

[kom-uh-ner] / ˈkɒm ə nər /

noun

1. a common person, as distinguished from one with rank, status, etc.

2. British.

   1. any person ranking below a peer; a person without a title of nobility.

   2. a member of the House of Commons.

   3. (at Oxford and some other universities) a student who pays the cost to dine at the commons and other expenses and is not supported by any scholarship or foundation.

3. a person who has a joint right in common land.

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commoner British  

/ ˈkɒmənə /

noun

1. a person who does not belong to the nobility

2. a person who has a right in or over common land jointly with another or others

3. a student at a university or other institution who is not on a scholarship

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Etymology

Origin of commoner

First recorded in 1350–1400; common + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

The first book I read about it, some 50 years ago, was “The Closing Circle,” by Barry Commoner, which lays out the damage humans had already done to the ecosphere.

From Washington Post • Aug. 28, 2022

Commoner had the public stature we needed in our candidate.

From Time • Dec. 2, 2016

As individuals, the gaudy businessman from New York City and the Great Commoner from the prairies don’t have much in common.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 15, 2016

Some of the most influential leaders of the movement, including Barry Commoner and Rachel Carson, broadened their attention to other ways that technology seemed to threaten human health or nature itself.

From Slate • Jun. 5, 2014

Robert Herrick, though he graduated at Trinity Hall, was sometime a Fellow Commoner here.

From St. John's College, Cambridge by New, E. H. (Edmund Hort)