Common definition
Gas stations became common as the use of cars grew.
A band concert on the village common.
Common knowledge.
The common interests of a group.
Common ware.
A common soldier.
The common man.
Behavior that branded him as common.
Common carriers.
An example of common is the knowledge of drivers to stop at a red light.
A common sailor.
Common interests.
For the common good.
It is common for movies to last 90 minutes or more.
The common housefly.
The common spectator.
Common procedure.
Common cloth.
A common denominator.
A common sight.
Common courtesy.
“book,” “apple,” and “street” are common nouns.
The word “child” is of common gender.
It is common to find sharks off this coast.
Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of.
A common criminal.
- Equally with or by all.
- equally with, or shared by, another or all concerned
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