commonly
Americanadverb
-
often; frequently.
commonly used words.
-
usually; generally; ordinarily.
- Synonyms:
- routinely, customarily, normally
-
in a common manner.
adverb
-
usually; ordinarily
he was commonly known as Joe
-
derogatory in a coarse or vulgar way
she dresses commonly
Etymology
Origin of commonly
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English communeli(che); equivalent to common + -ly
Explanation
The adverb commonly is good for talking about something that usually or ordinarily happens. Mice, for example, are commonly afraid of cats. Commonly describes an action that's to be expected. You could say that the bus commonly picks you up fifteen minutes late, or that colds and flu are commonly passed around between kids at school. The earliest use of commonly, around 1300, was to mean "in a way common to all," from the adjective common, or "belonging to all." The Latin root communis means "in common, public, or shared by all or many."
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.
Some automakers are so desperate to get vehicles to Europe, Australia and Latin America they are squeezing them inside shipping containers more commonly used to transport furniture, clothes and electronics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Wales and Northern Ireland do not have a heart and lung transplant centre, so patients commonly travel to England for surgery.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Astronomers are still working to understand why this swept-up gas forms such complicated arrangements of rings and shells, structures that are commonly seen in planetary nebulae.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Retatrutide, which is a peptide like most GLP-1–based drugs, is commonly referred to as “reta” or “ratatouille” online.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
After the young birds are hatched the charm is broken; but each winter these days of perfect peace come, and they are called after her, Alcyone, or, more commonly, Halcyon days.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
