commonplace

UK: /ˈkɒmənpleɪs/ US: /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/ ,(kom′ən plās′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

com•mon•place /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/   adj. 

1. ordinary;
   uninteresting;
   usual:
   commonplace expressions in his writing.

n. [countable]

2. a well-known or obvious remark or statement;
   platitude:
   It is a commonplace that the world has grown more complex.
3. anything common or uninteresting.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

com•mon•place  (kom′ən plās′), adj. 

1. ordinary;
   undistinguished or uninteresting;
   without individuality:
   a commonplace person.
2. trite;
   hackneyed;
   platitudinous:
   a commonplace remark.

n. 

3. a well-known, customary, or obvious remark;
   a trite or uninteresting saying.
4. anything common, ordinary, or uninteresting.
5. [Archaic.] a place or passage in a book or writing noted as important for reference or quotation.

• translation of Latin locus commūnis, itself translation of Greek koinòs tópos 1525–35

com′mon•place′ly, adv. 
com′mon•place′ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 2. Commonplace, banal, hackneyed, stereotyped, trite describe words, remarks, and styles of expression that are lifeless and uninteresting.
  Commonplace characterizes thought that is dull, ordinary, and platitudinous:
  commonplace and boring.
  Something is banal that seems inane, insipid, and pointless:
  a heavy-handed and banal affirmation of the obvious.
  Hackneyed characterizes something that seems stale and worn out through overuse:
  a hackneyed comparison.
  Stereotyped emphasizes the fact that situations felt to be similar invariably call for the same thought in exactly the same form and the same words:
  so stereotyped as to seem automatic.
  Trite describes something that was originally striking and apt, but which has become so well-known and been so commonly used that all interest has been worn out of it:
  true but trite.
• 3. cliché, bromide, platitude, stereotype.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

commonplace / ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/ adjective

1. ordinary; everyday
2. dull and obvious; trite: commonplace prose

noun

1. something dull and trite, esp a remark; platitude; truism
2. a passage in a book marked for inclusion in a commonplace book, etc
3. an ordinary or common thing

Etymology: 16th Century: translation of Latin locus commūnis argument of wide application, translation of Greek koinos topos

ˈcommonˌplaceness noun