common stock

American  

noun

1. stock that ordinarily has no preference in the matter of dividends or assets and represents the residual ownership of a corporate business.

2. Animal Husbandry. stock that is not purebred.

---

common stock British  

noun

1. the US name for ordinary shares

---

Etymology

Origin of common stock

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

common stock

Under the terms of the all-stock deal, Centerspace shareholders will receive 3.8 shares of Independence Realty Trust’s common stock for each share of Centerspace common stock that they own.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

Underwriters of the deal are expected to have a 30-day option to buy up to $2.25 billion of additional common stock at the price at public offering, Intel said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

The company spent $349.6 million to repurchase 478 shares of Class A common stock at a weighted average price of $731,389.41 during the second quarter, with the bulk of those purchases coming in June.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026

Now, under its new owners, EA’s common stock has stopped trading and will be delisted from NASDAQ.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

She well knew the story of Ananias and Sapphira; and she happened to have a great admiration of the plan of the early Christians, of throwing all their goods into a common stock.

From Household Education by Harriet Martineau

Related Words

• common shares
• ordinary shares