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common people


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WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
com•mon /ˈkɑmən/USA pronunciation   adj., -er, -est, n. 
adj. 
    1. belonging equally to, or shared alike by: We all have a common objective, to stop the mayor's reelection.
    2. relating to or belonging to an entire community, nation, or culture: They had a common language, English.
    3. [before a noun] widespread;
      general;
      universal: There was common understanding that he would be promoted.
    4. of frequent occurrence;
      usual;
      familiar: It was a common error.
    5. of mediocre quality:a rough, common fabric.
    6. having or showing bad manners;
      socially unacceptable:common manners.
    7. lacking rank, station, etc.;
      ordinary;
      not special:[before a noun]a common soldier; common table salt.
    8. in keeping with accepted standards;
      fundamental:[before a noun]common decency.

    n. [countable]
    1. Dialect TermsOften, commons. [plural] a piece of land owned or used by the people living in a community, as a park.
    2. Government commons, [plural]
      • the common people.
    Idioms
    1. Idioms in common, [uncountable] in joint possession or use;
      shared equally:We have much in common with people from other cultures.

com•mon•ly, adv.: It's commonly understood that people say thank you when they receive a gift.
com•mon•ness, n. [uncountable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
com•mon  (kom′ən),USA pronunciation adj., -er, -est, n. 
adj. 
    1. belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question:common property; common interests.
    2. pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture;
      public:a common language or history; a common water-supply system.
    3. joint;
      united:a common defense.
    4. widespread;
      general;
      ordinary:common knowledge.
    5. of frequent occurrence;
      usual;
      familiar:a common event; a common mistake.
    6. hackneyed;
      trite.
    7. of mediocre or inferior quality;
      mean;
      low:a rough-textured suit of the most common fabric.
    8. coarse;
      vulgar:common manners.
    9. lacking rank, station, distinction, etc.;
      unexceptional;
      ordinary:a common soldier; the common man;a common thief.
    10. Slang Terms[Dial.]friendly;
      sociable;
      unaffected.
    11. Anatomyforming or formed by two or more parts or branches:the common carotid arteries.
    12. Poetry[Pros.](of a syllable) able to be considered as either long or short.
    13. Grammar
      • not belonging to an inflectional paradigm;
        fulfilling different functions that in some languages require different inflected forms:English nouns are in the common case whether used as subject or object.
      • constituting one of two genders of a language, esp. a gender comprising nouns that were formerly masculine or feminine:Swedish nouns are either common or neuter.
      • noting a word that may refer to either a male or a female:Frenchélève has common gender. English lacks a common gender pronoun in the third person singular.
      • Grammar(of a noun) belonging to the common gender.
    14. Mathematicsbearing a similar relation to two or more entities.
    15. Stock Exchangeof, pertaining to, or being common stock:common shares.

    n. 
    1. Dialect TermsOften, commons. [Chiefly New England.]a tract of land owned or used jointly by the residents of a community, usually a central square or park in a city or town.
    2. Lawthe right or liberty, in common with other persons, to take profit from the land or waters of another, as by pasturing animals on another's land (com′mon of pas′turage) or fishing in another's waters (com′mon of pis′cary.)
    3. Government commons, (used with a sing. or pl. v.)
      • the commonalty;
        the nonruling class.
      • the body of people not of noble birth or not ennobled, as represented in England by the House of Commons.
      • (cap.) the representatives of this body.
      • (cap.) the House of Commons.
    4. commons:
      • (used with a sing. v.) a large dining room, esp. at a university or college.
      • British Terms(usually used with a pl. v.) food provided in such a dining room.
      • (usually used with a pl. v.) food or provisions for any group.
    5. (sometimes cap.) [Eccles.]
      • Religionan office or form of service used on a festival of a particular kind.
      • Religionthe ordinary of the Mass, esp. those parts sung by the choir.
      • Religionthe part of the missal and breviary containing Masses and offices of those saints assigned to them.
    6. [Obs.]
      • the community or public.
      • the common people.
    7. Idioms in common, in joint possession or use;
      shared equally:They have a love of adventure in common.
    • a base *moin-, cognate with mean2; compare com-, immune
    • Latin commūnis common, presumably origin, originally "sharing common duties,'' akin to mūnia duties of an office, mūnus task, duty, gift
    • Anglo-French, Old French
    • Middle English comun 1250–1300
    com′mon•ness, n. 
      • 4.See corresponding entry in Unabridged universal, prevalent, popular. See general. 
      • 5.See corresponding entry in Unabridged customary, everyday.
      • 7, 8.See corresponding entry in Unabridged
      • 9.See corresponding entry in Unabridged Common, vulgar, ordinary refer, often with derogatory connotations of cheapness or inferiority, to what is usual or most often experienced.
        Common applies to what is accustomed, usually experienced, or inferior, to the opposite of what is exclusive or aristocratic:The park is used by the common people.Vulgar properly means belonging to the people, or characteristic of common people; it connotes low taste, coarseness, or ill breeding:the vulgar view of things; vulgar in manners and speech.Ordinary refers to what is to be expected in the usual order of things; it means average or below average:That is a high price for something of such ordinary quality.
      • 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged individual.
      • 5.See corresponding entry in Unabridged unusual.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
common / ˈkɒmən/
  1. belonging to or shared by two or more people: common property
  2. belonging to or shared by members of one or more nations or communities; public: a common culture
  3. of ordinary standard; average
  4. prevailing; widespread: common opinion
  5. widely known or frequently encountered; ordinary: a common brand of soap
  6. widely known and notorious: a common nuisance
  7. considered by the speaker to be low-class, vulgar, or coarse
  8. (prenominal) having no special distinction, rank, or status: the common people
  9. having a specified relationship with a group of numbers or quantities: common denominator
  10. (of a tangent) tangential to two or more circles
  11. (in certain languages, for example Latin) denoting or belonging to a gender of nouns, esp one that includes both masculine and feminine referents
  1. (sometimes plural) a tract of open public land, esp one now used as a recreation area
  2. the right to go onto someone else's property and remove natural products, as by pasturing cattle or fishing (esp in the phrase right of common)
  3. a form of the proper of the Mass used on festivals that have no special proper of their own
  4. the ordinary of the Mass
  5. in common ⇒ mutually held or used with another or others
Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French commun, from Latin commūnis general, universalˈcommonness
'common people' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Vulgate - bottom-up - bring - common - commonalty - crowd - democracy - demos - demotic - divulge - equites - folk - folk dance - folk music - folk tale - folkish - folklife - folksy - grass roots - herd - hoi polloi - little people - mass - million - mob - multitude - picaresque - plebeian - plebs - populace - popular - promulgate - rabble - reverse snob - unwashed - vulgar - vulgus

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