common

common comparative commoner · superlative most common · superlative commonest

1. Mutual; shared by more than one.

   Winning the championship is an aim common to the two competitors.

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   The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship.

   Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169

   And now a common enemy—pollution—promises to press the littoral nations of the Baltic into common cause.

   1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 605

   Synonyms: mutual, shared, collective, corporate, joint, mutual, shared, united · Antonyms: personal, individual, peculiar, individual, first and last, lone, one, one and only

2. Existing among virtually all people; universal.

   common knowledge, common decency, common sense

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   No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it.

   1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 197

   Synonyms: catholic, general, catholic, ecumenical, general, generic, nonsingular, nonspecific · Antonyms: individual, particular, concrete, discrete, individual, particular, peculiar, proper

3. Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.

   It is common to find sharks off this coast.

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   Thus it is sayde in the cōmon vsage.

   Thus it is said in the common usage.

   1530?, Robert Wyer, This boke is named the beaulte of women : translated out of Frenche in to Englysshe., page 8

   That loss is common would not make ⁠My own less bitter, rather more: ⁠Too common! Never morning wore To evening, but some heart did break.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

   Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.

   2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193

   Synonyms: normal, ordinary, standard, usual · Antonyms: special, exceptional, rare, uncommon, aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous

4. Found in large numbers or in a large quantity; usual.

   Sharks are common in these waters.

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   "Commoner" used to be commoner, but "more common" is now more common.

   It differs from the common blackbird in the size of its beak.

   Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

   2012 March 28, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128

   Machine learning was the most common method of AI listed in patent requests.

   2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019

   In our daily-diary studies, one source of awe was by far the most common: other people. Regular acts of courage—bystanders defusing fights, subordinates standing up to abusive power holders—inspired awe.

   2023 January 3, Dacher Keltner, “The Quiet Profundity of Everyday Awe”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2023

   Synonyms: extensive, prevalent, ubiquitous, disseminated, far-flung, extensive, pervasive, predominant · Antonyms: rare, uncommon, few and far between, dearthy, few and far between, geason, infrequent, in short supply

5. Simple, ordinary or vulgar.

   the common folk

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   This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   above the vulgar flight of common souls

   1768, Arthur Murphy, Zenobia

   Mr. Crackit (for he it was) had no very great quantity of hair, either upon his head or face, but what he had was of a reddish dye, and tortured into long corkscrew curls, through which he occasionally thrust some very dirty fingers ornamented with large common rings.

   1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Burglary”, in Oliver Twist; […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 35

   Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.

   1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3

   If it be asked wherein the utility of some modern extensions of mathematics lies, it must be acknowledged that it is at present difficult to see how they are ever to become applicable to questions of common life or physical science.

   1893, Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematics

   Synonyms: common-or-garden, everyday, average, medial, basic, bog-standard, commonplace, common-and-garden · Antonyms: exceptional, extraordinary, noteworthy, special

6. biologyAs part of the vernacular name of a species, usually denoting that it is abundant or widely known.

   the common daisy (Bellis perennis)

7. biologyVernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal.

   common name vs. scientific name.

   Antonyms: technical term

8. lawArising from use or tradition, as opposed to being created by a legislative body.

   common law

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   As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]

   1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469

9. grammarOf, pertaining or belonging to the common gender.

   Synonyms: epicene

10. grammarOf or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.

    Synonyms: appellative

11. obsoleteProfane; polluted.

    What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:15

    Synonyms: impure, unhallowed, corrupted, tainted, impious, impure, mishallowed, profane · Antonyms: hallowed, sanctified, immaculate, pristine, blessed, celestial, devoutful, divine

12. obsoleteGiven to lewd habits; prostitute.

    a Dame who her self was as Common as the King's High Way

    1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

    Synonyms: easy, lustful, wanton, abandoned, easy, fast, lascivious, lewd · Antonyms: chaste, pure, chaste, cherry, undeflowered, unfucked, unsullied, vestal

plural commons

1. Mutual good, shared by more than one.
2. A tract of land in common ownership; common land.

   Throughout the land there is a great variation in the shape and size of village greens, from the many of pocket-handkerchief size to a roadside common of 20 acres or more - as at Lindfield in West Sussex.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, pages 264-265

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   The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

   1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick

   Synonyms: commons

3. The people; the community.

   the weal o' the common

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

4. lawThe 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.

present singular third person commons · participle present commoning · participle past commoned · past commoned

1. obsoleteTo communicate (something).

   Then entred Satan into Judas, whose syr name was iscariot (which was of the nombre off the twelve) and he went his waye, and commened with the hye prestes and officers, how he wolde betraye hym vnto them.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke

   Synonyms: articulate, convey, express, articulate, communicate, convey, share, express

2. obsoleteTo converse, talk.

   1568-1569, Richard Grafton, Chronicle Capitaine generall of Flaunders, which amiably enterteyned the sayd Duke, and after they had secretly commoned of.

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   So long as Guyon with her commoned, / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   Synonyms: chat, discourse, treat, chat, confab, confabulate, conversate, converse

3. obsoleteTo have sex.

   Synonyms: company, know, shag, approach, cohabit, company, copulate, couple

4. obsoleteTo participate.

   Synonyms: join in, take part

5. obsoleteTo have a joint right with others in common ground.
6. obsoleteTo board together; to eat at a table in common.

   Synonyms: fadge, mess

plural Commons

1. A surname.

1. fantasyDenoting the name of a universal language in various works.

   Both princesses spoke Common well enough. Soon we realized that they knew each other.

   2011, Elizabeth Moon, Kings of the North, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 395

   Synonyms: Standard