man on the street

plural men on the street

1. idiomaticAn ordinary member of the general public, especially one who lacks special expertise.

   Near-synonyms: layman, everyman

   3 more examples

   Such was the airy way with which, not an illiterate man on the street, but a brilliant woman of the world disposed of a tremendous historical fact.

   1919, Lee Meriwether, The War Diary of a Diplomat, Dodd, Mead and Company, page 173

   "When do the Olympics begin?" a reporter from a Nagano television station asks me in a man-on-the-street interview.

   2004, Steve Rushin, The Caddie Was a Reindeer: And Other Tales of Extreme Recreation, Atlantic Monthly Press,, →ISBN, page 214

   It is not only the man on the street who is characterized by taking one's own system of relevance for granted. This holds true for the expert,....

   2005, Hisashi Nasu, “Between the Everyday Life-World and the World of Social Scientific Theory—Towards an “Adequate” Social Thory”, in Martin Endress, George Psathas, Hisashi Nasu, editors, Explorations of the Life-World: Continuing Dialogues with Alfred Schutz, Springer, →ISBN, page 136

   Synonyms: man in the street, man on the Clapham omnibus, Joe Average, John Q. Public, layman, everyman