'Common' definitions:
Definition of 'common'
From: WordNet
adjective
Belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public; "for the common good"; "common lands are set aside for use by all members of a community" [ant: individual, single]
adjective
Having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual; "the common man"; "a common sailor"; "the common cold"; "a common nuisance"; "followed common procedure"; "it is common knowledge that she lives alone"; "the common housefly"; "a common brand of soap" [ant: uncommon]
adjective
Common to or shared by two or more parties; "a common friend"; "the mutual interests of management and labor" [syn: common, mutual]
adjective
Commonly encountered; "a common (or familiar) complaint"; "the usual greeting" [syn: common, usual]
adjective
Being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language; "common parlance"; "a vernacular term"; "vernacular speakers"; "the vulgar tongue of the masses"; "the technical and vulgar names for an animal species" [syn: common, vernacular, vulgar]
adjective
Of or associated with the great masses of people; "the common people in those days suffered greatly"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "his square plebeian nose"; "a vulgar and objectionable person"; "the unwashed masses" [syn: common, plebeian, vulgar, unwashed]
adjective
Of low or inferior quality or value; "of what coarse metal ye are molded"- Shakespeare; "produced...the common cloths used by the poorer population" [syn: coarse, common]
adjective
Lacking refinement or cultivation or taste; "he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "an untutored and uncouth human being"; "an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"; "appealing to the vulgar taste for violence"; "the vulgar display of the newly rich" [syn: coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth, vulgar]
adjective
To be expected; standard; "common decency"
noun
Definition of 'Common'
From: GCIDE
- Common \Com"mon\, a. [Compar. Commoner; superl. Commonest.] [OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis; com- + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E. mean low, common. Cf. Immunity, Commune, n. & v.]
- 1. Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property. [1913 Webster]
- Though life and sense be common to men and brutes. --Sir M. Hale. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members of a class, considered together; general; public; as, properties common to all plants; the common schools; the Book of Common Prayer. [1913 Webster]
- Such actions as the common good requireth. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]
- The common enemy of man. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Often met with; usual; frequent; customary. [1913 Webster]
- Grief more than common grief. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary; plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense. [1913 Webster]
- The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster]
- This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Above the vulgar flight of common souls. --A. Murphy. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Profane; polluted. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. --Acts x. 15. [1913 Webster]
- 6. Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute. [1913 Webster]
- A dame who herself was common. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
- Common bar (Law) Same as Blank bar, under Blank.
- Common barrator (Law), one who makes a business of instigating litigation.
- Common Bench, a name sometimes given to the English Court of Common Pleas.
- Common brawler (Law), one addicted to public brawling and quarreling. See Brawler.
- Common carrier (Law), one who undertakes the office of carrying (goods or persons) for hire. Such a carrier is bound to carry in all cases when he has accommodation, and when his fixed price is tendered, and he is liable for all losses and injuries to the goods, except those which happen in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies of the country, or of the owner of the property himself.
- Common chord (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental tone, with its third and fifth.
- Common council, the representative (legislative) body, or the lower branch of the representative body, of a city or other municipal corporation.
- Common crier, the crier of a town or city.
- Common divisor (Math.), a number or quantity that divides two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder; a common measure.
- Common gender (Gram.), the gender comprising words that may be of either the masculine or the feminine gender.
- Common law, a system of jurisprudence developing under the guidance of the courts so as to apply a consistent and reasonable rule to each litigated case. It may be superseded by statute, but unless superseded it controls. --Wharton.
- Note: It is by others defined as the unwritten law (especially of England), the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, as ascertained and expressed in the judgments of the courts. This term is often used in contradistinction from statute law. Many use it to designate a law common to the whole country. It is also used to designate the whole body of English (or other) law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local, civil, admiralty, equity, etc. See Law.
- Common lawyer, one versed in common law.
- Common lewdness (Law), the habitual performance of lewd acts in public.
- Common multiple (Arith.) See under Multiple.
- Common noun (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of objects, as distinguished from a proper noun (the name of a particular person or thing).
- Common nuisance (Law), that which is deleterious to the health or comfort or sense of decency of the community at large.
- Common pleas, one of the three superior courts of common law at Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and four puisne judges. Its jurisdiction is confined to civil matters. Courts bearing this title exist in several of the United States, having, however, in some cases, both civil and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole State. In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a {county court}. Its powers are generally defined by statute.
- Common prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England, or of the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, which all its clergy are enjoined to use. It is contained in the Book of Common Prayer.
- Common school, a school maintained at the public expense, and open to all.
- Common scold (Law), a woman addicted to scolding indiscriminately, in public.
- Common seal, a seal adopted and used by a corporation.
- Common sense. (a) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond of all the others. [Obs.] --Trench. (b) Sound judgment. See under Sense.
- Common time (Mus.), that variety of time in which the measure consists of two or of four equal portions.
- In common, equally with another, or with others; owned, shared, or used, in community with others; affecting or affected equally.
- Out of the common, uncommon; extraordinary.
- Tenant in common, one holding real or personal property in common with others, having distinct but undivided interests. See Joint tenant, under Joint.
- To make common cause with, to join or ally one's self with.
- Syn: General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent; ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See Mutual, Ordinary, General. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Common'
From: GCIDE
- Common \Com"mon\, n.
- 1. The people; the community. [Obs.] "The weal o' the common." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons. [1913 Webster]
- 3. (Law) The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; -- so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right. [1913 Webster]
- Common appendant, a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the waste land in the manor where they dwell.
- Common appurtenant, a similar right applying to lands in other manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable, as hogs.
- Common because of vicinage or {Common because of neighborhood}, the right of the inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their beasts stray into the other's fields. -
- Common in gross or Common at large, a common annexed to a man's person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole. --Blackstone.
- Common of estovers, the right of taking wood from another's estate.
- Common of pasture, the right of feeding beasts on the land of another. --Burill.
- Common of piscary, the right of fishing in waters belonging to another.
- Common of turbary, the right of digging turf upon the ground of another. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Common'
From: GCIDE
- Common \Com"mon\, v. i.
- 1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of. --Grafton. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To participate. [Obs.] --Sir T. More. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To have a joint right with others in common ground. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
- 4. To board together; to eat at a table in common. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'common'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- absolute interest,
- accustomed,
- adequate,
- all right,
- artificial turf,
- ascetic,
- associated,
- Astroturf,
- Attic,
- austere,
- average,
- Babbittish,
- back-number,
- bald,
- banal,
- bare,
- base,
- baseborn,
- beggarly,
- below the salt,
- beneath contempt,
- benefit,
- besetting,
- bewhiskered,
- bourgeois,
- bowling green,
- breezy,
- bromidic,
- campy,
- candid,
- casual,
- central,
- chaste,
- cheap,
- cheesy,
- civic,
- civil,
- claim,
- classic,
- classical,
- cliched,
- coacting,
- coactive,
- coadjutant,
- coadjuvant,
- coarse,
- cockney,
- coefficient,
- collaborative,
- collective,
- collectivist,
- collectivistic,
- colloquial,
- collusive,
- combined,
- commensal,
- commonage,
- commoners,
- commonly known,
- commonplace,
- commons,
- communal,
- communalist,
- communalistic,
- communist,
- communistic,
- communitarian,
- community,
- commutual,
- concerted,
- concordant,
- concurrent,
- concurring,
- conjoint,
- conjunct,
- conniving,
- contemptible,
- contingent interest,
- conventional,
- conversational,
- cooperant,
- cooperating,
- cooperative,
- corny,
- corporate,
- cosmopolitan,
- crummy,
- current,
- customary,
- cut-and-dried,
- declasse,
- defiled,
- demeaning,
- despicable,
- direct,
- disadvantaged,
- dominant,
- down-to-earth,
- dry,
- dull,
- easement,
- ecumenic,
- epidemic,
- equitable interest,
- equity,
- estate,
- everyday,
- fade,
- fairway,
- familiar,
- fellow,
- flat,
- fourth-class,
- frank,
- frequent,
- frequentative,
- fusty,
- garden,
- garden-variety,
- gaudy,
- general,
- generic,
- gimcracky,
- golf course,
- golf links,
- good,
- grassplot,
- green,
- greenyard,
- grounds,
- habitual,
- hack,
- hackney,
- hackneyed,
- harmonious,
- harmonized,
- high-camp,
- holding,
- homely,
- homespun,
- household,
- humble,
- humdrum,
- in common,
- in the shade,
- inferior,
- informal,
- infra dig,
- insipid,
- interest,
- intermediary,
- intermediate,
- international,
- irregular,
- joint,
- junior,
- kitschy,
- lawn,
- lean,
- less,
- lesser,
- like,
- limitation,
- low,
- low-camp,
- low-class,
- low-grade,
- low-pressure,
- low-quality,
- low-test,
- lowborn,
- lowbred,
- lower,
- lowly,
- many,
- many times,
- matter-of-fact,
- mean,
- medial,
- median,
- mediocre,
- medium,
- meretricious,
- Mickey Mouse,
- middle-class,
- middle-of-the-road,
- middling,
- minor,
- miserable,
- moderate,
- modest,
- moth-eaten,
- mundane,
- musty,
- mutual,
- national,
- natural,
- neat,
- no great shakes,
- nonclerical,
- noncompetitive,
- nondescript,
- nonstandard,
- normal,
- normative,
- not rare,
- notorious,
- of common occurrence,
- oft-repeated,
- oftentime,
- old hat,
- open,
- ordinary,
- ornery,
- overused,
- paltry,
- pandemic,
- paradise,
- park,
- part,
- pathetic,
- pedestrian,
- people,
- percentage,
- Philistine,
- pitiable,
- pitiful,
- plain,
- plain-speaking,
- plain-spoken,
- plastic,
- platitudinous,
- plaza,
- pleasance,
- pleasure garden,
- pleasure ground,
- plebeian,
- plebeians,
- poetryless,
- polluted,
- poor,
- pop,
- populace,
- popular,
- predominant,
- predominating,
- prescriptive,
- prevailing,
- prevalent,
- proletarian,
- prosaic,
- prosing,
- prosy,
- proverbial,
- public,
- public park,
- punk,
- pure,
- pure and simple,
- putting green,
- rampant,
- rank and file,
- reciprocal,
- recurrent,
- regnant,
- regular,
- regulation,
- reigning,
- relaxed,
- repetitious,
- respective,
- rife,
- right,
- right of entry,
- routine,
- rubbishy,
- rude,
- ruling,
- run-of-mine,
- run-of-the-mill,
- running,
- rustic,
- sad,
- satisfactory,
- scrubby,
- scruffy,
- scummy,
- scurvy,
- scuzzy,
- second rank,
- second string,
- second-best,
- second-class,
- second-rate,
- secondary,
- seedy,
- servile,
- set,
- settlement,
- severe,
- shabby,
- shabby-genteel,
- shared,
- shoddy,
- similar,
- simple,
- simple-speaking,
- sleazy,
- sober,
- social,
- socialistic,
- societal,
- sorry,
- spare,
- Spartan,
- spoken,
- square,
- stake,
- stale,
- standard,
- stark,
- state,
- stereotyped,
- stock,
- straightforward,
- strict settlement,
- sub,
- subaltern,
- subject,
- subordinate,
- subservient,
- substandard,
- suburban,
- sufficient,
- supranational,
- symbiotic,
- synergetic,
- synergic,
- synergistic,
- tacky,
- talked-about,
- talked-of,
- tatty,
- thick-coming,
- third estate,
- third rank,
- third string,
- third-class,
- third-estate,
- third-rate,
- threadbare,
- timeworn,
- tinny,
- tired,
- tiresome,
- title,
- tolerable,
- trashy,
- trite,
- truistic,
- trumpery,
- trust,
- two-for-a-cent,
- two-for-a-penny,
- two-way,
- twopenny,
- twopenny-halfpenny,
- typical,
- unadorned,
- unaffected,
- unclean,
- uncompetitive,
- unconstrained,
- underprivileged,
- undistinguished,
- uneducated,
- unembellished,
- uneventful,
- unexceptionable,
- unexceptional,
- unexciting,
- unfussy,
- ungenteel,
- unidealistic,
- unimaginative,
- unimpassioned,
- unimpeachable,
- uninteresting,
- universal,
- universally admitted,
- universally recognized,
- unliterary,
- unnoteworthy,
- unoriginal,
- unpoetic,
- unpoetical,
- unrefined,
- unremarkable,
- unreserved,
- unromantic,
- unspectacular,
- unstudied,
- unvarnished,
- use,
- usual,
- valueless,
- vapid,
- vernacular,
- vested interest,
- vile,
- village green,
- vulgar,
- warmed-over,
- well-kenned,
- well-known,
- well-recognized,
- well-understood,
- well-worn,
- widely known,
- wonted,
- workaday,
- workday,
- worn,
- worn out,
- worn thin,
- worthless,
- wretched
Words containing 'Common'
- Commonable,
- Commoner,
- Commonly,
- Commonness,
- Commons,
- In common,
- Out of the common,
- commonality,
- Common Bench,
- Common appendant,
- Common appurtenant,
- Common at large,
- Common bar,
- Common barrator,
- Common because of neighborhood,
- Common because of vicinage,
- Common brawler,
- Common carrier,
- Common chord,
- Common council,
- Common crier,
- Common divisor,
- Common electricity,
- Common fraction,
- Common gender,
- Common in gross,
- Common informer,
- Common law,
- Common lawyer,
- Common lewdness,
- Common logarithms,
- Common meter,
- Common multiple,
- Common noun,
- Common nuisance,
- Common of estovers,
- Common of pasture,
- Common of piscary,
- Common of shack,
- Common of turbary,
- Common pepper,
- Common pleas,
- Common prayer,
- Common pyrites,
- Common recovery,
- Common school,
- Common scold,
- Common seal,
- Common sense,
- Common thrift,
- Common time,
- Common year,
- Doctors' Commons,
- Gentleman commoner,
- Littleton Common,
- Tenant in common,
- The common run,
- To be on short commons,
- common ageratum,
- common alder,
- common allamanda,
- common amsinckia,
- common apricot,
- common arrowhead,
- common ax,
- common axe,
- common bamboo,
- common barberry,
- common barley,
- common basil,
- common bean,
- common bearberry,
- common beech,
- common beet,
- common birch,
- common blackfish,
- common booklouse,
- common box,
- common broom,
- common burdock,
- common buttercup,
- common calamint,
- common camas,
- common canary,
- common caper,
- common carotid,
- common chickweed,
- common cockscomb,
- common cold,
- common comfrey,
- common daisy,
- common dandelion,
- common denominator,
- common dogbane,
- common dolphin,
- common duckweed,
- common eel,
- common eland,
- common elder,
- common era,
- common factor,
- common fate,
- common fault,
- common fennel,
- common fig,
- common foxglove,
- common front,
- common ginger,
- common good,
- common ground,
- common heath,
- common hop,
- common hops,
- common horehound,
- common horsetail,
- common hyacinth,
- common iguana,
- common ivy,
- common jasmine,
- common juniper,
- common kingsnake,
- common knowledge,
- common laburnum,
- common land,
- common lettuce,
- common lilac,
- common limpet,
- common logarithm,
- common louse,
- common lynx,
- common mackerel,
- common madia,
- common maidenhair,
- common mallow,
- common man,
- common marigold,
- common market,
- common measure,
- common milkwort,
- common mood,
- common moonseed,
- common moonwort,
- common morel,
- common mosquito,
- common mugwort,
- common mullein,
- common murre,
- common myrtle,
- common nardoo,
- common newt,
- common nighthawk,
- common nightshade,
- common nutcracker,
- common oak,
- common opossum,
- common or garden,
- common osier,
- common pea,
- common people,
- common person,
- common pheasant,
- common plantain,
- common plum,
- common polypody,
- common privet,
- common purslane,
- common ragweed,
- common rail,
- common reed,
- common rhea,
- common room,
- common rorqual,
- common roundworm,
- common rush,
- common sage,
- common salt,
- common scoter,
- common shares,
- common shiner,
- common shrew,
- common snowberry,
- common soldier,
- common sorrel,
- common speedwell,
- common spoonbill,
- common starling,
- common stinkhorn,
- common stock,
- common sunflower,
- common tarweed,
- common teasel,
- common thyme,
- common tobacco,
- common topaz,
- common touch,
- common tunny,
- common valerian,
- common vetchling,
- common viper,
- common wallaby,
- common wart,
- common wasp,
- common watercress,
- common wheat,
- common wolffia,
- common wormwood,
- common yellowthroat,
- common yellowwood,
- common zebra,
- great commoner,
- house of commons,
- Accidental Common Vocal,
- Common lunar year,
- Court of Common pleas,
- Fellow-commoner,
- Littleton Common, MA,
- To make common cause with,
- book of common prayer,
- british house of commons,
- common american shad,
- common bean plant,
- common bile duct,
- common bird cherry,
- common bog rosemary,
- common brant goose,
- common cardinal vein,
- common carline thistle,
- common carotid artery,
- common coral tree,
- common corn salad,
- common cotton grass,
- common devil's claw,
- common european ash,
- common european dogwood,
- common european earwig,
- common european jay,
- common evening primrose,
- common facial vein,
- common fig tree,
- common flat pea,
- common garden cress,
- common garter snake,
- common grape hyacinth,
- common grape vine,
- common gum cistus,
- common iliac artery,
- common iliac vein,
- common indigo plant,
- common matrimony vine,
- common morning glory,
- common pitcher plant,
- common rose mallow,
- common scurvy grass,
- common sickle pine,
- common snapping turtle,
- common spindle tree,
- common spotted orchid,
- common staghorn fern,
- common stock equivalent,
- common thorn apple,
- common unicorn plant,
- common water snake,
- common white dogwood,
- common winterberry holly,
- common wood sorrel,
- common-law,
- common-room,
- greatest common denominator,
- greatest common divisor,
- greatest common factor,
- highest common factor,
- law of common fate,
- least common multiple,
- lowest common multiple,
- common lady's-slipper,
- common pond-skater,
- common st john's wort,
- common-law marriage,
- common four-o'clock