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Common

//ˈkɒm.ən// adj, name, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Mutual; shared by more than one.

    "The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship."

  2. 2
    Of a quality: existing among virtually all people; universal.

    "common knowledge, common decency, common sense"

  3. 3
    Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.

    "It is common to find sharks off this coast."

  4. 4
    Found in large numbers or in a large quantity; usual.

    ""Commoner" used to be commoner, but "more common" is now more common."

  5. 5
    Simple, ordinary or vulgar.

    "the common folk"

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  1. 6
    As part of the vernacular name of a species, usually denoting that it is abundant or widely known.

    "the common daisy (Bellis perennis)"

  2. 7
    Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal.

    "common name vs. scientific name."

  3. 8
    Arising from use or tradition, as opposed to being created by a legislative body.

    "common law"

  4. 9
    Of, pertaining or belonging to the common gender.
  5. 10
    Of or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.
  6. 11
    Profane; polluted. obsolete

    "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."

  7. 12
    Given to lewd habits; prostitute. obsolete

    "a Dame who her self was as Common as the King's High Way"

Adjective
  1. 1
    having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual wordnet
  2. 2
    belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public wordnet
  3. 3
    commonly encountered wordnet
  4. 4
    being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language wordnet
  5. 5
    of or associated with the great masses of people wordnet
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  1. 6
    to be expected; standard wordnet
  2. 7
    lacking refinement or cultivation or taste wordnet
  3. 8
    common to or shared by two or more parties wordnet
  4. 9
    of low or inferior quality or value wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    Denoting the name of a universal language in various works.

    "Both princesses spoke Common well enough. Soon we realized that they knew each other."

Noun
  1. 1
    Mutual good, shared by more than one.
  2. 2
    a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area wordnet
  3. 3
    A tract of land in common ownership; common land.

    "The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common."

  4. 4
    The people; the community.

    "the weal o' the common"

  5. 5
    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.
Verb
  1. 1
    To communicate (something). obsolete

    "Then entred Satan into Judas, whose syr name was iscariot (which was of the nombre off the twelve) and he went his waye, and commened with the hye prestes and officers, how he wolde betraye hym vnto them."

  2. 2
    To converse, talk. obsolete

    "So long as Guyon with her commoned, / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye […]"

  3. 3
    To have sex. obsolete
  4. 4
    To participate. obsolete
  5. 5
    To have a joint right with others in common ground. obsolete
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To board together; to eat at a table in common. obsolete

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina and mean.

Etymology 2

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina and mean.

Etymology 3

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina and mean.

Etymology 4

Probably a variant of Cumming or a reduced form of McCommon.

See also for "common"

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