common

[ kom-uhn ]

/ ˈkɒm ən /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR common 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; ordinary: 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.
(initial capital letter) the representatives of this body.
(initial capital letter) 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 initial capital letter) 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.

Idioms for common

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

Origin of common

1250–1300; Middle English comun < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin commūnis common, presumably orig. “sharing common duties,” akin to mūnia duties of an office, mūnus task, duty, gift < a base *moin-, cognate with mean²; cf. com-, immune

SYNONYMS FOR common

4 universal, prevalent, popular.

5 customary, everyday.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR common ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR common

1 individual.

5 unusual.

SEE ANTONYMS FOR common ON THESAURUS.COM

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, noun o·ver·com·mon, adjective o·ver·com·mon·ly, adverb o·ver·com·mon·ness, noun

qua·si-com·mon, adjective qua·si-com·mon·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH common

common mutual reciprocal (see usage note at mutual)

Words nearby common

commodity, commodity exchange, commodity futures trading commission, commodore, commodus, common, common agricultural policy, common antigen, common basal vein, common bile duct, common business oriented language

Example sentences from the Web for common

The vaccine is delivered through a “carrier virus” that causes a common cold in chimpanzees but does not affect humans.

The Race for the Ebola Vaccine |Abby Haglage |January 7, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Finding the common bonds that help us realize that we have far more in common than that which separates us.

In 2015, Let’s Try for More Compassion |Gene Robinson |January 4, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Such large sheets are common in Kobani, meant to protect fighters and civilians from the ever gazing eyes of ISIS snipers.

The Brothers Who Ambushed ISIS |Mohammed A. Salih |December 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Letting humans use their common sense is not an invitation to anarchy.

Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans |Philip K. Howard |December 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Common sense is not a just a normative judgment about wisdom, but a structural feature of any functioning organization.

Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans |Philip K. Howard |December 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Like rats, mice appear to act in companies, either under leadership or by common consent.

Natural History in Anecdote |Various
The common serpent was unknown to us; but with our voices alone we managed to make a formidable noise.

Christmas Stories from French and Spanish writers |Antoinette Ogden
A common explanation is that the scribe mistook numerals in the MS. before him and wrote the wrong figures.

Lives of SS. Declan and Mochuda |Anonymous
Only the cuckoo of our common birds builds so flimsy a nest as the dove's adored darling.

Birds Every Child Should Know |Neltje Blanchan
Only in the absence of a common Gospel would each party have to take its own, and spare the other.

Studies of Christianity |James Martineau

British Dictionary definitions for common

common

/ (ˈkɒmən) /

adjective

belonging to or shared by two or more people common property

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

of ordinary standard; average common decency

prevailing; widespread common opinion

widely known or frequently encountered; ordinary a common brand of soap

widely known and notorious a common nuisance

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

(prenominal) having no special distinction, rank, or status the 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 referents Latin 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

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

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

common

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

Idioms for common

Origin of common

SYNONYMS FOR common

ANTONYMS FOR common

synonym study for common

OTHER WORDS FROM common

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH common

Words nearby 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

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

common

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

Idioms for common

Origin of common

SYNONYMS FOR common

ANTONYMS FOR common

synonym study for common

OTHER WORDS FROM common

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH common

Words nearby common

Words related to common

Example sentences from the Web for common

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for common

adjective

noun

Derived forms of common

Word Origin for common

Idioms and Phrases with common

British Dictionary definitions for common