commonplace

comparative more commonplace · superlative most commonplace · alternative obsolete common place · alternative archaic common-place

1. Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.

   Commonplace sounds had turned into threats.

   1970, Wally Ferris, Across 110th, page 193

   4 more examples

   "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."

   1824, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 7, in St. Ronan's Well

   In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,[…], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   I could get hold of nothing but of some commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our impotence before each other's trials.

   1911, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Under Western Eyes

   In the old days, hopping onto the platform from a not-yet-stopped train was a commonplace stunt for daily commuters in a hurry.

   2025 July 9, Frank Mueller, “Protecting the railway from new and existing dangers”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 62

   Synonyms: routine, undistinguished, unexceptional, quotidian, banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy · Antonyms: distinguished, inimitable, unique

plural commonplaces · alternative obsolete common place · alternative archaic common-place

1. countableuncountableA platitude or cliché.

   Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.

   1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 17, in Active Service

   1 more example

   And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.

   1910, Elinor Glyn, chapter 4, in His Hour

2. countableuncountableSomething that is ordinary; something commonly done or occurring.

   Collecting data via transects is a commonplace in biology[.]

   2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4

   4 more examples

   It is odd how easily the common-places of morality or of sentiment glide off in conversation. Well, they are "exceedingly helpful," and so Lord Avonleigh found them.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 137

   "MY dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker-street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence.[…]"

   1891 [September], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure III.—A Case of Identity.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II (July to December), number [9], London: […], page 248, column 1

   And, placed discreetly among these commonplaces, a few pieces of genuine quality, bizarrely distinguished by craftsmanship from the vulgar products of the machine.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150

   The smallest commonplace of domestic life, so amiable to the healthy mind, lacerates like a blade.

   1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

3. countableuncountableA memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.

   Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of common-place.

   1710, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit

4. countableuncountableA commonplace book.

present singular third person commonplaces · participle present commonplacing · participle past commonplaced · past commonplaced · alternative obsolete common place · alternative archaic common-place

1. transitiveTo make a commonplace book.
2. transitiveTo enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.

   I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the […]historians.

   1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics

3. intransitiveobsoleteTo utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.

   And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.

   1910, Elinor Glyn, chapter 4, in His Hour

   1 more example

   c. January 1620, Francis Bacon, letter to the King For the good that comes of particular and select committees and commissions, I need not commonplace.