commonalty

plural commonalties

1. countableuncountableThe common people; the commonality.

   In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect it.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 1”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

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   The people were averse to him, as the supposed author of the violence on the monasteries; establishments which were still revered and beloved by the commonalty.

   1759, David Hume, “[Henry VIII.] Chapter XXXII.”, in The History of England, under the House of Tudor. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 239

   1906, Sinclair Lewis, "Unknown Undergraduates" first published in the Yale Literary Magazine, June, 1906, in The Man from Main Street: Selected Essays and Other Writings, 1904-1950, Harry E. Maule and Melville H. Cane (eds.), New York: Pocket Books, 1962, p. 122, Besides the men who are unknown but important there is the commonalty, whom you regard as mere entities, whose very names you do not know, or will forget before your triennial.

2. countableuncountableA group of things having similar characteristics.
3. countableuncountableA class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank; commoners.

   Second Citizen: Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius? First Citizen: Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty.

   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, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]

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   […] and all the people wholly for this gentleness, first the estates both high and low, and after the commonalty cried at once: Sir Launcelot hath won the field whosoever say nay.

   1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum 35”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book 1, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 353

   The commonalty spoke of his mighty spear-thrust, of his deft sword-swing, the terror of his wrath, of the fury of his battle-lust, of his laughter and light joy, and the singing that was on his lips when his sword had the silence upon it.

   1910, Fiona Macleod, “The Harping of Cravetheen”, in The Sin-Eater, The Washer of the Ford and Other Legendary Moralities, New York: Duffield & Co., pages 91–2

4. countableuncountableThe state or quality of having things in common.

   Some individuals fight the expectation that they ought to be part of any such "we," while others eagerly seek a sense of commonalty.

   2000, Stephen O. Murray, Homosexualities, University of Chicago Press, Part 3, Chapter 9, p. 382

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   Or is there some way in which the product of that solitude—writing—may none the less be profoundly social, rejoining the commonalty of society, and through its indirections and specificities being the most authentic contribution the writer can offer?

   1988, Nadine Gordimer, The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places, New York: Knopf, page 8

5. countableuncountableA shared feature.

   Observant visitors to any prison will quickly recognize commonalties in its inmate population. Not only do shared traits exist among the inmate population of any particular institution (intra-prison commonalties) but commonalties also exist among inmates nationwide (inter-prison commonalties).

   2007, Curt R. Blakely, chapter 2, in Prisons, Penology and Penal Reform: An Introduction to Institutional Specialization, New York: Peter Lang, page 29