common

com•mon

[[t]ˈkɒm ən[/t]] adj. -er, -est, n. adj.

1) belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question:

common objectives[/ex]

2) pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture:

a common language[/ex]

3) joint; united:

a common defense[/ex]

4) widespread; general; universal:

common knowledge[/ex]

5) of frequent occurrence; usual; familiar:

a common mistake[/ex]

6) of mediocre or inferior quality; mean:

a rough, common fabric[/ex]

7) coarse; vulgar:

common manners[/ex]

8) lacking rank, station, distinction, etc.; ordinary:

a common soldier[/ex]

9) in keeping with accepted standards; fundamental:

common decency[/ex]

10) pro (of a syllable) able to be considered as either long or short

11) gram.

a) (of a grammatical case) fulfilling different functions that in some languages would require different inflected forms:

English nouns used as subject or object are in the common case[/ex]

b) of or pertaining to a word or gender that may refer to either a male or female: Frenchélève

“pupil” has common gender[/ex]

c) constituting a gender comprising nouns that were formerly masculine or feminine:

Dutch nouns are either common or neuter in gender[/ex]

12) math. bearing a similar mathematical relation to two or more entities

13) bus of or pertaining to common stock

14) cvb dial. Often, commons. a tract of land owned or used jointly by the residents of a community, as a central square or park in a city or town

15) law the right, in common with other persons, to pasture animals on another's land or to fish in another's waters

16) gov commons

a) the common people; commonalty.

b) the body of people not of noble birth, as represented by the House of Commons

c) (cap.) (used with a sing. v.) the House of Commons.

17) commons

a) (used with a sing. v.) a large dining room, esp. at a university or college

b) (usu. with a pl. v.) food or provisions for any group

18) (sometimes cap.)

a) rel an ecclesiastical office or form of service used on a festival of a particular kind

b) rel the ordinary of the Mass, esp. those parts sung by the choir

•

- in common

Etymology: 1250–1300; ME comun < AF, OF < L commūnis common < com-+mūnus task, duty, gift, c. mean II com′mon•ly, adv. com′mon•ness, n. syn: common, ordinary, vulgar refer, often with derogatory connotations, to what is usual or most often experienced. common applies to what is widespread or unexceptional; it often suggests inferiority or coarseness: common servants; common cloth. ordinary refers to what is to be expected in the usual order of things; it suggests being average or below average: a high price for something of such ordinary quality. vulgar means belonging to the people or characteristic of common people; it suggests low taste, coarseness, or ill breeding: vulgar manners; vulgar speech. See also general