Common

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: com=mon

CIDE DICTIONARY

Common, a. [OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis; com- + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E. mean low, common. Cf. Immunity, Commune, n. & v.].

•  Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property.  [1913 Webster]

  "Though life and sense be common to men and brutes."  [1913 Webster]
•  Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members of a class, considered together; general; public; as, properties common to all plants; the common schools; the Book of Common Prayer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such actions as the common good requireth."  [1913 Webster]

  "The common enemy of man."  [1913 Webster]
•  Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.  [1913 Webster]

  "Grief more than common grief."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary; plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense.  [1913 Webster]

  "The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life."  [1913 Webster]

  "This fact was infamous
  And ill beseeming any common man,
  Much more a knight, a captain and a leader."  [1913 Webster]

  "Above the vulgar flight of common souls."  [1913 Webster]
•  Profane; polluted.  [1913 Webster]

  "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."  [1913 Webster]
•  Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute.  [1913 Webster]

  "It is by others defined as the unwritten law (especially of England), the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, as ascertained and expressed in the judgments of the courts. This term is often used in contradistinction from statute law. Many use it to designate a law common to the whole country. It is also used to designate the whole body of English (or other) law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local, civil, admiralty, equity, etc. See Law."

  "A dame who herself was common."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent; ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See Mutual, Ordinary, General.

Common, n. 

•  The people; the community.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons.  [1913 Webster]
•  The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; -- so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.  [1913 Webster]

Common appendant, a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the waste land in the manor where they dwell. -- Common appurtenant, a similar right applying to lands in other manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable, as hogs. -- Common because of vicinage or Common because of neighborhood, the right of the inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their beasts stray into the other's fields. - - Common in gross or Common at large, a common annexed to a man's person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole. Blackstone. -- Common of estovers, the right of taking wood from another's estate. -- Common of pasture, the right of feeding beasts on the land of another. Burill. -- Common of piscary, the right of fishing in waters belonging to another. -- Common of turbary, the right of digging turf upon the ground of another.

Common, v. i. 

•  To converse together; to discourse; to confer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of."  [1913 Webster]
•  To participate.  Sir T. More.  [1913 Webster]
•  To have a joint right with others in common ground.  Johnson.  [1913 Webster]
•  To board together; to eat at a table in common.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Common, adj. & n.
--adj. (commoner, commonest)
1 a occurring often (a common mistake). b ordinary; of ordinary qualities; without special rank or position (no common mind; common soldier; the common people).
2 a shared by, coming from, or done by, more than one (common knowledge; by common consent; our common benefit). b belonging to, open to, or affecting, the whole community or the public (common land).
3 derog. low-class; vulgar; inferior (a common little man).
4 of the most familiar type (common cold; common nightshade).
5 Math. belonging to two or more quantities (common denominator; common factor).
6 Gram. (of gender) referring to individuals of either sex (e.g. teacher).
7 Prosody (of a syllable) that may be either short or long.
8 Mus. having two or four beats, esp. four crotchets, in a bar.
9 Law (of a crime) of lesser importance (cf. GRAND, PETTY).
--n.
1 a piece of open public land, esp. in a village or town.
2 sl. = common sense; (use your common).
3 Eccl. a service used for each of a group of occasions.
4 (in full right of common) Law a person's right over another's land, e.g. for pasturage.

Idiom

common carrier a person or firm undertaking to transport any goods or person in a specified category. common chord Mus. any note with its major or minor third and perfect fifth. common crier see CRIER. common denominator see DENOMINATOR. Common Era the Christian era. common ground a point or argument accepted by both sides in a dispute. common jury a jury with members of no particular social standing (cf. special jury). common law law derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes (cf. case-law (see CASE(1)), statute law). common-law husband (or wife) a partner in a marriage recognized by common law, esp. after a period of cohabitation. Common Market the European Economic Community. common metre a hymn stanza of four lines with 8, 6, 8, and 6 syllables. common noun (or name) Gram. a name denoting a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual (e.g. boy, chocolate, beauty). common or garden colloq. ordinary. Common Prayer the Church of England liturgy orig. set forth in the Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI (1549). common-room
1 a room in some colleges, schools, etc., which members may use for relaxation or work.
2 the members who use this. common salt see SALT. common seal the official seal of a corporate body. common sense sound practical sense, esp. in everyday matters. Common Serjeant see SERJEANT. common soldier see SOLDIER. common stock US = ordinary shares. common weal public welfare. common year see YEAR 2.
in common
1 in joint use; shared.
2 of joint interest (have little in common). in common with in the same way as. least (or lowest) common denominator, multiple see DENOMINATOR, MULTIPLE. out of the common unusual.

Derivative

commonly adv. commonness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF comun f. L communis

THESAURUS

Common

Astroturf, Attic, Babbittish, Mickey Mouse, Philistine, Spartan, absolute interest, accustomed, adequate, all right, artificial turf, ascetic, associated, austere, average, back-number, bald, banal, bare, base, baseborn, beggarly, below the salt, beneath contempt, benefit, besetting, bewhiskered, bourgeois, bowling green, breezy, bromidic, campy, candid, casual, central, chaste, cheap, cheesy, civic, civil, claim, classic, classical, cliched, coacting, coactive, coadjutant, coadjuvant, coarse, cockney, coefficient, collaborative, collective, collectivist, collectivistic, colloquial, collusive, combined, commensal, commonage, commoners, commonly known, commonplace, commons, communal, communalist, communalistic, communist, communistic, communitarian, community, commutual, concerted, concordant, concurrent, concurring, conjoint, conjunct, conniving, contemptible, contingent interest, conventional, conversational, cooperant, cooperating, cooperative, corny, corporate, cosmopolitan, crummy, current, customary, cut-and-dried, declasse, defiled, demeaning, despicable, direct, disadvantaged, dominant, down-to-earth, dry, dull, easement, ecumenic, epidemic, equitable interest, equity, estate, everyday, fade, fairway, familiar, fellow, flat, fourth-class, frank, frequent, frequentative, fusty, garden, garden-variety, gaudy, general, generic, gimcracky, golf course, golf links, good, grassplot, green, greenyard, grounds, habitual, hack, hackney, hackneyed, harmonious, harmonized, high-camp, holding, homely, homespun, household, humble, humdrum, in common, in the shade, inferior, informal, infra dig, insipid, interest, intermediary, intermediate, international, irregular, joint, junior, kitschy, lawn, lean, less, lesser, like, limitation, low, low-camp, low-class, low-grade, low-pressure, low-quality, low-test, lowborn, lowbred, lower, lowly, many, many times, matter-of-fact, mean, medial, median, mediocre, medium, meretricious, middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middling, minor, miserable, moderate, modest, moth-eaten, mundane, musty, mutual, national, natural, neat, no great shakes, nonclerical, noncompetitive, nondescript, nonstandard, normal, normative, not rare, notorious, of common occurrence, oft-repeated, oftentime, old hat, open, ordinary, ornery, overused, paltry, pandemic, paradise, park, part, pathetic, pedestrian, people, percentage, pitiable, pitiful, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, plastic, platitudinous, plaza, pleasance, pleasure garden, pleasure ground, plebeian, plebeians, poetryless, polluted, poor, pop, populace, popular, predominant, predominating, prescriptive, prevailing, prevalent, proletarian, prosaic, prosing, prosy, proverbial, public, public park, punk, pure, pure and simple, putting green, rampant, rank and file, reciprocal, recurrent, regnant, regular, regulation, reigning, relaxed, repetitious, respective, rife, right, right of entry, routine, rubbishy, rude, ruling, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, running, rustic, sad, satisfactory, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, scuzzy, second rank, second string, second-best, second-class, second-rate, secondary, seedy, servile, set, settlement, severe, shabby, shabby-genteel, shared, shoddy, similar, simple, simple-speaking, sleazy, sober, social, socialistic, societal, sorry, spare, spoken, square, stake, stale, standard, stark, state, stereotyped, stock, straightforward, strict settlement, sub, subaltern, subject, subordinate, subservient, substandard, suburban, sufficient, supranational, symbiotic, synergetic, synergic, synergistic, tacky, talked-about, talked-of, tatty, thick-coming, third estate, third rank, third string, third-class, third-estate, third-rate, threadbare, timeworn, tinny, tired, tiresome, title, tolerable, trashy, trite, truistic, trumpery, trust, two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, two-way, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, typical, unadorned, unaffected, unclean, uncompetitive, unconstrained, underprivileged, undistinguished, uneducated, unembellished, uneventful, unexceptionable, unexceptional, unexciting, unfussy, ungenteel, unidealistic, unimaginative, unimpassioned, unimpeachable, uninteresting, universal, universally admitted, universally recognized, unliterary, unnoteworthy, unoriginal, unpoetic, unpoetical, unrefined, unremarkable, unreserved, unromantic, unspectacular, unstudied, unvarnished, use, usual, valueless, vapid, vernacular, vested interest, vile, village green, vulgar, warmed-over, well-kenned, well-known, well-recognized, well-understood, well-worn, widely known, wonted, workaday, workday, worn, worn out, worn thin, worthless, wretched

ROGET THESAURUS

Common

Habit

N habit, habitude, assuetude, assuefaction, wont, run, way, common state of things, general state of things, natural state of things, ordinary state of things, ordinary course of things, ordinary run of things, matter of course, beaten path, beaten track, beaten ground, prescription, custom, use, usage, immemorial usage, practice, prevalence, observance, conventionalism, conventionality, mode, fashion, vogue, etiquette, order of the day, cry, conformity, consuetude, dustoor, one's old way, old school, veteris vestigia flammae, laudator temporis acti, rule, standing order, precedent, routine, red-tape, red-tapism, pipe clay, rut, groove, cacoethes, bad habit, confirmed habit, inveterate habit, intrinsic habit, addiction, trick, training, seasoning, second nature, acclimatization, knack, habitual, accustomary, prescriptive, accustomed, of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence, consuetudinary, wonted, usual, general, ordinary, common, frequent, everyday, household, garden variety, jog, trot, well-trodden, well-known, familiar, vernacular, trite, commonplace, conventional, regular, set, stock, established, stereotyped, prevailing, prevalent, current, received, acknowledged, recognized, accredited, of course, admitted, understood, conformable, according to use, according to custom, according to routine, in vogue, in fashion, in, with it, fashionable, wont, used to, given to, addicted to, attuned to, habituated, in the habit of, habitue, at home in, seasoned, imbued with, devoted to, wedded to, hackneyed, fixed, rooted, deep-rooted, ingrafted, permanent, inveterate, besetting, naturalized, ingrained, habitually, always, as usual, as is one's wont, as things go, as the world goes, as the sparks fly upwards, more suo, more solito, ex more, as a rule, for the most part, usually, generally, typically, most often, most frequently, cela s'entend, abeunt studia in mores, adeo in teneris consuescere multum est, consuetudo quasi altera natura, hoc erat in more majorum, How use doth breed a habit in a man!, magna est vis consuetudinis, morent fecerat usus.

Unimportance

N unimportance, insignificance, nothingness, immateriality, triviality, levity, frivolity, paltriness, poverty, smallness, vanity, matter of indifference, no object, nothing, nothing to signify, nothing worth speaking of, nothing particular, nothing to boast of, nothing to speak of, small matter, no great matter, trifling matter, mere joke, mere nothing, hardly anything, scarcely anything, nonentity, small beer, cipher, no great shakes, peu de chose, child's play, kinderspiel, toy, plaything, popgun, paper pellet, gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, bagatelle, Rickshaw, knickknack, whim-wham, trifle, trifles light as air, yankee notions, trumpery, trash, rubbish, stuff, fatras, frippery, leather or prunello, chaff, drug, froth bubble smoke, cobweb, weed, refuse, scum, joke, jest, snap of the fingers, fudge, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end, pack of nonsense, mere farce, straw, pin, fig, button, rush, bulrush, feather, halfpenny, farthing, brass farthing, doit, peppercorn, jot, rap, pinch of snuff, old son, cent, mill, picayune, pistareen, red cent, minutiae, details, minor details, small fry, dust in the balance, feather in the scale, drop in the ocean, flea-bite, molehill, nine days' wonder, ridiculus mus, flash in the pan, much ado about nothing, unimportant, of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance, immaterial, unessential, nonessential, indifferent, subordinate, mediocre, passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace, uneventful, mere, common, ordinary, inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable, trifling, trivial, slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle, puerile, airy, shallow, weak, powerless, frivolous, petty, niggling, piddling, peddling, fribble, inane, ridiculous, farcical, finical, finikin, fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water, poor, paltry, pitiful, contemptible, sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel, weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery, one- horse, not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw, beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration, de lana caprina, vain, slightly, rather, somewhat, pretty well, tolerably, for aught one cares, Int, no matter!, pish!, tush!, tut!, pshaw!, pugh!, pooh, pooh-pooh!, fudge!, bosh!, humbug!, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end!, fiddlededee!, never mind!, n'importe!, what signifies it, what boots it, what of it, what of that, what matter, what's the odds, a fig for', stuff!, nonsense!, stuff and nonsense, magno conatu magnas nugas, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it matters not, it does not signify, it is of no consequence, it is of no importance, elephantus non capit murem, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

Generality

N generality, generalization, universality, catholicity, catholicism, miscellany, miscellaneousness, dragnet, common run, worldwideness, everyone, everybody, all hands, all the world and his wife, anybody, N or M, all sorts, prevalence, run, general, generic, collective, broad, comprehensive, sweeping, encyclopedical, widespread, universal, catholic, catholical, common, worldwide, ecumenical, oecumenical, transcendental, prevalent, prevailing, rife, epidemic, besetting, all over, covered with, Pan-American, Anglican, Pan-Hellenic, Pan-Germanic, slavic, panharmonic, every, all, unspecified, impersonal, customary, whatever, whatsoever, to a man, one and all, generally, always, for better for worse, in general, generally speaking, speaking generally, for the most part, in the long run.

Normality

N normality, normalcy, normalness, familiarity, naturalness, commonness (frequency), rule, standard (conformity), customary (habit), standard, pattern (prototype), normal, natural, unexceptional, common, usual (frequency).

Conformity

N conformity, conformance, observance, habituation, naturalization, conventionality, agreement, example, instance, specimen, sample, quotation, exemplification, illustration, case in point, object lesson, elucidation, standard, model, pattern, rule, nature, principle, law, order of things, normal state, natural state, ordinary state, model state, normal condition, natural condition, ordinary condition, model condition, standing dish, standing order, Procrustean law, law of the Medes and Persians, hard and fast rule, conformable to rule, regular, according to regulation, according to rule, according to Hoyle, according to Cocker, according to Gunter, en regle, selon les regles, well regulated, orderly, symmetric, conventional, of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence, in the natural order of things, ordinary, common, habitual, usual, everyday, workaday, in the order of the day, naturalized, typical, normal, nominal, formal, canonical, orthodox, sound, strict, rigid, positive, uncompromising, Procrustean, secundum artem, shipshape, technical, exempIe, illustrative, in point, conformably, by rule, agreeably to, in conformity with, in accordance with, in keeping with, according to, consistently with, as usual, ad instar, instar omnium, more solito, more-majorum, for the sake of conformity, as a matter of course, of course, pro forma, for form's sake, by the card, invariably, for example, exempli gratia, e, g, inter alia, among other things, for instance, cela va sans dire, ex pede Herculem, noscitur a sociis, ne e quovis ligno Mercurius fiat, they are happy men whose natures sort with their v, The nail that sticks up hammered down, Tall poppy syndrome, Stick your neck out and it may get cut off.

Frequency

N frequency, oftness, oftenness, commonness, repetition, normality, example (conformity), routine, custom (habit), regularity, uniformity, constancy, clock-work precision, punctuality, even tenor, system, routine, formula, rule, keynote, standard, model, precedent, conformity, frequent, many times, not rare, thickcoming, incessant, perpetual, continual, steady, constant, thick, uniform, repeated, customary, (habit), regular (normal), according to rule, common, everyday, usual, ordinary, familiar, old-hat, boring, well-known, trivial, often, oft, ofttimes, oftentimes, frequently, repeatedly, unseldom, not unfrequently, in quick succession, in rapid succession, many a time and oft, daily, hourly, every day, every hour, every moment, perpetually, continually, constantly, incessantly, without ceasing, at all times, daily and hourly, night and day, day and night, day after day, morning noon and night, ever anon, invariably (habit), most often, commonly, sometimes, occasionally, at times, now and then, from time to time, there being times when, toties quoties, often enough, when the mood strikes, again and again.

Vulgarity

N vulgarity, vulgarism, barbarism, Vandalism, Gothicism, mauvis gout, bad taste, gaucherie, awkwardness, want of tact, ill-breeding, courseness, indecorum, misbehavior, lowness, homeliness, low life, mauvais ton, rusticity, boorishness, brutality, rowdyism, blackguardism, ribaldry, slang, bad joke, mauvais plaisanterie, gaudiness, tawdriness, false ornament, finery, frippery, trickery, tinsel, gewgaw, clinquant, baroque, rococo, rough diamond, tomboy, hoyden, cub, unlicked cub, clown, Goth, Vandal, Boeotian, snob, cad, gent, parvenu, frump, dowdy, slattern, in bad taste vulgar, unrefined, coarse, indecorous, ribald, gross, unseemly, unbeseeming, unpresentable, contra bonos mores, ungraceful, dowdy, slovenly, ungenteel, shabby genteel, low, common, hoi polloi, uncourtly, uncivil, ill bred, ill mannered, underbred, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unladylike, unfeminine, wild, wild as an unbacked colt, untutored, unschooled (ignorant), unkempt, uncombed, untamed, unlicked, unpolished, uncouth, plebeian, incondite, heavy, rude, awkward, homely, homespun, home bred, provincial, countrified, rustic, boorish, clownish, savage, brutish, blackguard, rowdy, snobbish, barbarous, barbaric, Gothic, unclassical, doggerel, heathenish, tramontane, outlandish, uncultivated, Bohemian, obsolete, unfashionable, newfangled, odd, particular, affected, meretricious, extravagant, monstrous, horrid, shocking, gaudy, tawdry, overornamented, baroque, rococo, bedizened, tricked out, gingerbread, obtrusive.

Expectance

N expectance, example, instance (conformity), normality (habit), nine days' wonder, expecting, unamazed, astonished at nothing, blase, expected, foreseen, unsurprising, common, ordinary, normal, typical, usual, naturally, as a matter of course, Int, no wonder, of course.

Commonalty

N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.

Plain

N plain, table-land, face of the country, open country, champaign country, basin, downs, waste, weary waste, desert, wild, steppe, pampas, savanna, prairie, heath, common, wold, veldt, moor, moorland, bush, plateau, campagna, alkali flat, llano, mesa, mesilla, playa, shaking prairie, trembling prairie, vega, meadow, mead, haugh, pasturage, park, field, lawn, green, plat, plot, grassplat, greensward, sward, turf, sod, heather, lea, ley, lay, grounds, maidan, agostadero, champaign, alluvial, campestral, campestrial, campestrian, campestrine.