uncommon
Americanadjective
-
not common; unusual; rare.
an uncommon word.
-
unusual in amount or degree; above the ordinary.
an uncommon amount of mail.
- Synonyms:
- extraordinary
-
exceptional; remarkable.
- Synonyms:
- outstanding
adjective
-
outside or beyond normal experience, conditions, etc; unusual
-
in excess of what is normal
an uncommon liking for honey
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of uncommon
Explanation
Anything uncommon is rare or unusual, like your uncommon last name, which all of your friends have trouble pronouncing. When you add the prefix un- to common, "occurring or done often," you get its opposite, uncommon. The word's earliest meaning was "not possessed in common," or not owned by everyone, from another meaning of common, "shared by the community." These days, people almost always mean "exceptional" or "not likely" when they describe something as uncommon: "It's uncommon for people to win the lottery, so don't waste your money!"
Vocabulary lists containing uncommon
Strange
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Strange
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Strange
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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:
“It’s uncommon but not impossible. If someone had asked at the beginning of this summer what shark species we should expect... I would’ve definitely said hammerheads,” Talwar said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
In the past, it was uncommon for federal prosecutors to pursue charges against noncitizen voters who didn’t understand that it was against the law for them to vote.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
It is not uncommon for the early euphoria around new administrations to cool when confronted with the realities of governing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Instead, the fossil evidence indicates that genuinely tiny dinosaurs outside the bird lineage were either extremely uncommon or may not have existed at all.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
In fact, it was not uncommon, even in a village as small as Berwick.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
If this so-called thermodynamic effect were all there was to it, temperatures now considered unusually hot would become more typical and those regarded as uncommonly cold, uncommoner still.
From Economist ● Jul. 28, 2018
I should hope so," said the boy,—"the uncommoner the better.
From The Adventures of Captain Horn by Frank Richard Stockton
The commonest thing is quite as strange as the uncommonest, only habit blunts our sense.
From The Old Man of the Mountain, The Lovecharm and Pietro of Abano Tales from the German of Tieck by Ludwig Tieck
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.
