Definition of "common"

common

/ˈkɒm.ən/

adjective
comparative commoner or more common, superlative commonest or most common
1. Mutual; shared by more than one.
  Quotations
  Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.
  1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 169
2. Of a quality: existing among virtually all people; universal.
  Quotations
  No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it.
  1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], page 197
3. Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.
  Quotations
  That loss is common would not make⁠My own less bitter, rather more:⁠Too common! Never morning woreTo evening, but some heart did break.
  1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], canto VI
  Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
  2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193
4. Found in large numbers or in a large quantity; usual.
  Quotations
  Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)
  2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128
  Audio (US)(file)
  2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:Machine learning was the most common method of AI listed in patent requests.
  In our daily-diary studies, one source of awe was by far the most common: other people. Regular acts of courage—bystanders defusing fights, subordinates standing up to abusive power holders—inspired awe.
  2023 January 3, Dacher Keltner, “The Quiet Profundity of Everyday Awe”, in The Atlantic‎, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, archived from the original on 2023-03-14
5. Simple, ordinary or vulgar.
  Quotations
  This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
  1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]
  above the vulgar flight of common souls
  1768, Arthur Murphy, Zenobia
  Mr. Crackit (for he it was) had no very great quantity of hair, either upon his head or face, but what he had was of a reddish dye, and tortured into long corkscrew curls, through which he occasionally thrust some very dirty fingers ornamented with large common rings.
  1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Burglary”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], page 35
  Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
  1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., part I, page 3
  If it be asked wherein the utility of some modern extensions of mathematics lies, it must be acknowledged that it is at present difficult to see how they are ever to become applicable to questions of common life or physical science.
  1893, Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematics
  She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915
6. (taxonomy) As part of the vernacular name of a species, usually denoting that it is abundant or widely known.
7. (taxonomy) Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal.
8. (law) Arising from use or tradition, as opposed to being created by a legislative body.
  Quotations
  As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]
  1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, page 469
9. (grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the common gender.
10. (grammar) Of or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.
11. (obsolete) Profane; polluted.
  Quotations
  What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Acts 10:15
12. (obsolete) Given to lewd habits; prostitute.
  Quotations
  a Dame who her self was as Common as the King's High Way
  1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]
noun
plural commons
1. Mutual good, shared by more than one.
2. A tract of land in common ownership; common land.
  Quotations
  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.
  1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
3. The people; the community.
  Quotations
  the weal o' the common
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
4. (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.
verb
third-person singular simple present commons, present participle commoning, simple past and past participle commoned
1. (obsolete) To communicate (something).
  Quotations
  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.
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Luke ]
2. (obsolete) To converse, talk.
  Quotations
  So long as Guyon with her commoned, / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye […]
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  Capitaine generall of Flaunders, which amiably enterteyned the sayd Duke, and after they had secretly commoned of.
  1568-1569, Richard Grafton, Chronicle
3. (obsolete) To have sex.
4. (obsolete) To participate.
5. (obsolete) To have a joint right with others in common ground.
6. (obsolete) To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Definition of "common"

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