Meanings
commonality1
plural commonalities
- countableuncountableThe joint possession of a set of attributes or characteristics.
Zunin sold the idea to his military superiors in the fearful jargon of his profession: "In a situation where commonality of loss of the husband is present, the group can be exceedingly supportive."
25 June 1969, “Second life for war widows”, in Time - countableuncountablecommunicationsA quality that applies to materiel or systems: (a) possessing like and interchangeable parts or characteristics enabling each to be utilized, or operated and maintained in common; (b) having interchangeable repair parts and/or components; (c) applying to consumable items interchangeably equivalent without adjustment.
1 more example
2003, NASA, Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Transcript, transcript of radio communication, KLING: FYI I've just lost four separate temperature transducers on the left side of the vehicle, hydraulic return temperatures. (pause) Two of them on system one and one in each of systems 2 and 3. CAIN: Four hyd return temps? KLING: To the left outboard and left inboard elevons. CAIN: OK, is there anything common to them, DSC or MDM or anything? I mean, you're telling me you lost them all at exactly the same time? KLING: No, not exactly. They were within probably four or five seconds of each other. CAIN: OK, where are those? Where is that instrumentation located? KLING: All four of them are located in the aft part of the left wing, right in front of the elevons, elevon actuators. And there is no commonality. CAIN: No commonality. (long pause)
commonality2
plural commonalities
- countableobsoleteuncountableThe common people; the commonalty.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSuch a shared attribute or characteristic
More synonyms by meaning
nouna class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank
nounsharing of common attributes
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
commonality · noun
- Middle Englishcomunalite
- Englishcommonality
Inherited from Middle English comunalite, remodelling of comunalte (modern English commonalty) as if from a putative Medieval Latin *commūnālitās.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto komuneco
- komunecojoint possession of a set of characteristics
Finnish samankaltaisuus, yhteensopivuus
- samankaltaisuusjoint possession of a set of characteristics
- yhteensopivuusjoint possession of a set of characteristics
- yhteinen piirresuch shared characteristic
- yhteensopivuustelecom: property of having these characteristics
French communité
- communitésuch shared characteristic
German German, Gemeinsamkeit
- Germanjoint possession of a set of characteristics
- Gemeinsamkeitjoint possession of a set of characteristics
- Gemeinsamkeitsuch shared characteristic
Japanese 共通点
- 共通点 (kyōtsūten)such shared characteristic
Russian о́бщность, унифицированность
- о́бщность (óbščnostʹ)joint possession of a set of characteristics
- унифицированность (unificirovannostʹ)joint possession of a set of characteristics
- унифицированность (unificirovannostʹ)telecom: property of having these characteristics
- совмести́мость (sovmestímostʹ)telecom: property of having these characteristics
Spanish comunalidad
- comunalidadjoint possession of a set of characteristics
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
commonality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commonality
“commonality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commonality. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “commonality,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/commonality.
Source: commonality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.