common

[ kom-uhn ]

/ ˈkɒm ən /

See synonyms for: common / commoner / commonest / commons on Thesaurus.com

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

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.

joint; united: a common defense.

widespread; general; universal: common knowledge.

of frequent occurrence; usual; familiar: a common event;a common mistake.

hackneyed; trite.

of mediocre or inferior quality; mean; low: a rough-textured suit of the most common fabric.

coarse; vulgar: common manners.

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.

noun

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.

SYNONYMS FOR common

4 prevalent, popular; accepted.

5 customary, habitual, everyday.

See synonyms for common on Thesaurus.com

ANTONYMS FOR common

1 individual.

5 unusual.

See antonyms for common on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms for common

in common, in joint possession or use; shared equally: They have a love of adventure in common.

Origin of common

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English comun, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin commūnis “common,” presumably originally “sharing common duties,” akin to mūnia “duties of an office,” mūnus “task, duty, gift,” from an unattested base moin-, cognate with mean²; cf. com-, immune

synonym study for common

4. See general. 7-9. Common, vulgar, ordinary refer, often with derogatory connotations of cheapness or inferiority, to what is usual or most often experienced. Common applies to what is accustomed, usually experienced, or inferior, to the opposite of what is exclusive or aristocratic: The park is used by the common people. Vulgar properly means belonging to the people, or characteristic of common people; it connotes low taste, coarseness, or ill breeding: the vulgar view of things; vulgar in manners and speech. Ordinary refers to what is to be expected in the usual order of things; it means average or below average: That is a high price for something of such ordinary quality.

OTHER WORDS FROM common

com·mon·ness, nouno·ver·com·mon, adjectiveo·ver·com·mon·ly, adverbo·ver·com·mon·ness, noun

quasi-common, adjectivequa·si-com·mon·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for common

The chirograph was the precursor of the modern indenture, the commonest form of English deeds, though no longer a tally.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5|Various
He knew how frequently the weightiest discoveries lie concealed beneath a veil of the commonest circumstances.
A Night on the Borders of the Black Forest|Amelia B. Edwards
In the commonest human face there lies more than Raphael will take-away with him.
Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History|Thomas Carlyle
But this garden was a poor makeshift; the plants were of the commonest kinds, and were choked with weeds.
Old Mission Stories of California|Charles Franklin Carter

They 've all the incentives to gout in this country, and yet they don't appear to have the commonest remedies against it.
The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I.(of II)|Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for common

common

/ (ˈkɒmən) /

adjective

belonging to or shared by two or more peoplecommon property

belonging to or shared by members of one or more nations or communities; publica common culture

of ordinary standard; averagecommon decency

prevailing; widespreadcommon opinion

widely known or frequently encountered; ordinarya common brand of soap

widely known and notoriousa common nuisance

derogatory considered by the speaker to be low-class, vulgar, or coarsea common accent

(prenominal) having no special distinction, rank, or statusthe common man

maths

having a specified relationship with a group of numbers or quantitiescommon 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 referentsLatin sacerdos is common

anatomy

having branchesthe common carotid artery
serving more than one functionthe common bile duct

Christianity of or relating to the common of the Mass or divine office

common or garden informal ordinary; unexceptional

noun

(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

Derived forms of common

commonness, noun

Word Origin for common

C13: from Old French commun, from Latin commūnis general, universal

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

Idioms and Phrases with common

common

In addition to the idioms beginning with common

common cause
common ground
common touch, the

also see:

in common

MEANINGS

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common

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

SYNONYMS FOR common

ANTONYMS FOR common

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Idioms for common

Origin of common

synonym study for common

OTHER WORDS FROM common

Example sentences from the Web for common

British Dictionary definitions for common

adjective

noun

Derived forms of common

Word Origin for common

Idioms and Phrases with common

MEANINGS

WORD GAMES

LEARN

WRITING

WORD OF THE DAY

common

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

SYNONYMS FOR common

ANTONYMS FOR common

QUIZZES

LEARN THE SPANISH WORDS FOR THESE COMMON ANIMALS!

Idioms for common

Origin of common

synonym study for common

OTHER WORDS FROM common

Words related to common

Example sentences from the Web for common

British Dictionary definitions for common

adjective

noun

Derived forms of common

Word Origin for common

Idioms and Phrases with common