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

• common carriage
  noun
• common-carrier
  adjective

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

Easy and inexpensive to build, simple to operate with but little training on the part of the aviator, it will be made the common carrier of all nations.

From Aircraft and Submarines The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of War's Newest Weapons by Abbot, Willis J. (Willis John)