commoner

[ kom-uh-ner ]

/ ˈkɒm ə nər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR commoner ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a common person, as distinguished from one with rank, status, etc.

British.

any person ranking below a peer; a person without a title of nobility.
a member of the House of Commons.
(at Oxford and some other universities) a student who pays for his or her commons and other expenses and is not supported by any scholarship or foundation.

a person who has a joint right in common land.

Origin of commoner

First recorded in 1275–1325, commoner is from the Middle English word cominer. See common, -er¹

Words nearby commoner

common-sense realism, commonable, commonage, commonality, commonalty, commoner, commonhold, commonly, commonplace, commonplace book, commons

Definition for commoner (2 of 2)

common

[ kom-uhn ]

/ ˈkɒm ən /

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.

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)

Example sentences from the Web for commoner

George is the first offspring of a “commoner” in 350 years to become heir to the throne.

Happy Birthday, Prince George! Will the Wee Royal Be the First King of the 22nd Century? |Emma Woolf |July 21, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The new Queen of Spain, 41-year old Letizia Ortiz, was not just born a commoner, but she was also divorced.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia Kiss As They Formally Take Power In Spain |Tom Sykes |June 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Prince William was hailed as a mould-breaker for marrying a commoner—Kate Middleton—a woman with no noble blood.

Meet the New Queen of Spain - 41-Year Old Divorcee And Commoner Letizia Ortiz |Tom Sykes |June 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
For the new Queen of Spain, 41-year old Letizia Ortiz, was not just born a commoner, but she was also divorced.

Meet the New Queen of Spain - 41-Year Old Divorcee And Commoner Letizia Ortiz |Tom Sykes |June 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

The king feared that had Prince Bertil married a commoner, the royal dynasty's survival would be jeopardised.

Princess Lilian of Sweden |Tom Sykes |March 11, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
The next difference is, that, by comparison with the Commoner, he wears a much more costly dress.

The Collected Writing of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. II |Thomas De Quincey
Commoner and more important is the case where the conflicting doctrines share the truth between them.

A History of Freedom of Thought |John Bagnell Bury
How could he himself pay court to her when she frivolously, if only for the moment, preferred this commoner's company?

Half A Chance |Frederic S. Isham
For a commoner to be seen in public in the company of a servitor was a great disparagement.

Rowlandson's Oxford |A. Hamilton Gibbs
No other person, king or commoner, ever entered seven four-horse chariots for the race at Olympia except Alkibiades.

Plutarch's Lives, Volume I (of 4) |Plutarch

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (1 of 2)

commoner

/ (ˈkɒmənə) /

noun

a person who does not belong to the nobility

a person who has a right in or over common land jointly with another or others

British a student at a university or other institution who is not on a scholarship

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (2 of 2)

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 commoner

common

In addition to the idioms beginning with common

common cause
common ground
common touch, the

also see:

in common

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

commoner

noun

Origin of commoner

Words nearby commoner

Definition for commoner (2 of 2)

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

Origin of common

SYNONYMS FOR common

ANTONYMS FOR common

synonym study for common

OTHER WORDS FROM common

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH common

Example sentences from the Web for commoner

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (1 of 2)

noun

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (2 of 2)

adjective

noun

Derived forms of common

Word Origin for common

Idioms and Phrases with commoner

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

commoner

noun

Origin of commoner

Words nearby commoner

Definition for commoner (2 of 2)

adjective, com·mon·er, com·mon·est.

noun

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 related to commoner

Example sentences from the Web for commoner

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (1 of 2)

noun

British Dictionary definitions for commoner (2 of 2)

adjective

noun

Derived forms of common

Word Origin for common

Idioms and Phrases with commoner