in common

prepositional phrase

Shared with one or more others.

“My cousin and I have a grandfather and grandmother in common.”

Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. Shared with one or more others.

    My cousin and I have a grandfather and grandmother in common.

  2. Possessing similar or identical qualities.

    I hate being alone with my boss as we have nothing in common.

    4 more examples

    Brittany is a relatively barren and sparsely populated land, and had it not been for tourists, the fishing and the cultivation of potatoes, the life of the people would have been hard indeed. It has, in fact, much in common with Western Ireland.

    1957 February 28, P. B. Whitehouse, “Narrow Gauge from St. Brieuc”, in Railway Magazine, page 85

    The closest affinities of the Jubulaceae are with the Lejeuneaceae. The two families share in common: (a) elaters usually 1-spiral, trumpet-shaped and fixed to the capsule valves, distally[…]

    1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 4

    You'll say, we've got nothing in common No common ground to start from And we're falling apart

    1993 October 13, Todd Pipes, “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, in Home, performed by Deep Blue Something, published 11 July 1995

    Shepard: No, you were right. There is something between us. Liara: I knew it! And I knew you felt it, too. But... does this not seem rather strange? Why do I feel so close to you? Liara: We have only known each other a short time. We are from two different species. We have almost nothing in common. This makes no sense!

    2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1

Origin

  1. Frenchen commun
  2. Englishin common

Possibly a calque of French en commun. Compare Italian in comune, Spanish en común and Portuguese em comum.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek κοινῇ
  • κοινῇ (koinēî)shared with others
Bulgarian съвместно, общо
  • съвместно (săvmestno)shared with others
  • общо (obšto)shared with others
Catalan en comú
  • en comúshared with others
Chinese Mandarin 共有, 共同的
  • 共有 (gòngyǒu)shared with others
  • 共同的 (gòngtóng de)shared with others
Dutch gemeen, gemeen
  • gemeenshared with others
  • gemeenheld in joint possession
Finnish yhteistä
  • yhteistäshared with others
French en commun, en commun
  • en communshared with others
  • en communheld in joint possession
German gemein, gemeinsam
  • gemeinheld in joint possession
  • gemeinsamheld in joint possession
Italian in comune, in comune
  • in comuneshared with others
  • in comuneheld in joint possession
Latin commūniter
  • commūnitershared with others
Portuguese em comum
  • em comumshared with others
Russian совме́стно, о́бщего
  • совме́стно (sovméstno)shared with others
  • о́бщего (óbščevo)shared with others
Spanish en común
  • en comúnshared with others
Swahili shirika
  • shirikaheld in joint possession
Swedish gemensamt
  • gemensamtshared with others
Cite this entry
APA

in common. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20common

MLA

“in common.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20common. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in common,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20common.

Source: in common on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.