commoner
Americannoun
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commoners
plural
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a common person, as distinguished from one with rank, status, etc.
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British.
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any person ranking below a peer; a person without a title of nobility.
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a member of the House of Commons.
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(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.
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a person who has a joint right in common land.
noun
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a person who does not belong to the nobility
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a person who has a right in or over common land jointly with another or others
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a student at a university or other institution who is not on a scholarship
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of commoner
First recorded in 1350–1400; common + -er 1 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing commoner
Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Introductory
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Aztec, Maya, and Inca Empires - Middle School and High School
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European Colonization of North America, Lessons 3–5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He broke with tradition by marrying a commoner, Queen Sonja, and served as a unifying figure at Norway's most difficult moments.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
He’s been called a thief, a benefactor, a commoner, a lord, a killer and a hero.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
One compares her to baseball star Shohei Ohtani, another praises her as a "commoner prime minister".
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
LONDON—It was supposed to be the moment a shamed prince was reduced to humble commoner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
And he is a commoner, a yeoman, so I don’t look for him among the gentlemen.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Baelor, a politician and a feudal dynast, might understand on some level that by fighting with Dunk, he is, in his own way, upholding the dignity of the crown and keeping the commoners placated.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2026
Adam Johnson conjures the watery world of the precolonial Tuʻitonga empire in this fictional saga of sovereigns, warriors, celestial navigators and plucky commoners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
Ponies, pigs, cattle and donkeys, owned by the New Forest's commoners, are allowed to roam freely on the open forest under ancient rights tied to their properties.
From BBC ● May 15, 2024
While the Italian master depicted commoners lighted by candlelight, Debora’s work illuminates the type of people he grew up with in the Aliso Village housing projects in Boyle Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
For any ranked society, whether a chiefdom or a state, one thus has to ask: why do the commoners tolerate the transfer of the fruits of their hard labor to kleptocrats?
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
