Common meaning
Having no special designation, status, or rank.
A common sailor.
adjective
The legal right of a person to use the lands or waters of another, as for fishing.
noun
Widely existing; general; prevalent.
Common knowledge.
adjective
The definition of common is something that belongs to or is shared by two or more people or the community at large.
An example of common is the knowledge of drivers to stop at a red light.
adjective
Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal, i.e., common name vs. scientific name.
adjective
Belonging equally to, or shared by, two or more or by all.
The common interests of a group.
adjective
Belonging or relating to the community at large; public.
Common carriers.
adjective
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Having no rank.
A common soldier.
adjective
Below ordinary; inferior.
Common ware.
adjective
Not refined; vulgar; low; coarse.
adjective
Formed of or dividing into branches.
adjective
Belonging equally to two or more quantities.
A common denominator.
adjective
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Land owned or used by all the inhabitants of a place; tract of open public land, esp. as a park in a city or town.
noun
Of or pertaining to uncapitalized nouns in English, i.e., common nouns vs. proper nouns.
adjective
Grafton.
Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of.
verb
The common people; commonalty.
noun
A tract of land, usually in a centrally located spot, belonging to or used by a community as a whole.
A band concert on the village common.
noun
A building or hall for dining, typically at a university or college.
noun
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Common stock.
noun
A service used for a particular class of festivals.
noun
(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.
noun
Widespread; prevalent.
Gas stations became common as the use of cars grew.
adjective
It is common to find sharks off this coast.
adjective
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Unrefined or coarse in manner; vulgar.
Behavior that branded him as common.
adjective
The House of Commons.
noun
Widely but unfavorably known.
A common criminal.
adjective
Not of the upper classes; of the masses.
The common man.
adjective
The right that a person has, in common with the owner or others, in the land or waters of another.
noun
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in common
- Equally with or by all.
idiom
in common
- Equally with, or shared by, another or all concerned.
idiom
Origin of common
- Middle English commune from Old French commun from Latin commūnis mei-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- 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 Frankish gemeini, gamaini "common" in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ko-moin-i (“held in common”). Displaced native Middle English ȝemǣne, imene (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mǣne, mene (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)).
From Wiktionary