common

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. ordinary, standard, usual, conventional; joint, shared; prevalent, general, universal, popular, customary, vulgar, ill-bred, plebeian, coarse. See conformity, habit, generality, populace.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Commonplace]

Syn. ordinary, everyday, familiar, usual, general, universal, natural, normal, accepted, characteristic, customary, prevalent, current, prevailing, typical, conventional, routine, prosaic, trite, banal, hackneyed, overused, stock, stale, worn thin, worn-out, homely, colloquial, nonliterary, vernacular, vulgar, popular, of the folk, of the masses, plebeian, humble, lowly, workaday, provincial, unsophisticated, average, passable, undistinguished, informal, conformable, probable, basic, simple, unvaried, trivial, oft-repeated, monotonous, tedious, wearisome, casual, unassuming, bourgeois, Philistine, uneducated, artless, unrefined, untutored, plain, homespun, unadorned, uncultured, slangy, platitudinous, truistic, obvious, quotidian, orthodox, traditional, standard, mediocre, second-rate, insipid, stereotyped, patent, moderate, middling, abiding, indifferent, pedestrian, tolerable, innocuous, unremarkable, nondescript, mere, so-so, not too bad, run-of-the-mill*, humdrum*, garden variety*, household*, warmed-over*, fair-to-middling*, low-level*, nothing to write home about*, no Great shakes*, comme ci, comme ca * (French), a dime a dozen*; see also colloquial , conventional 1 , dull 4 , fair 2 , popular 1 , 3 , traditional 2 .

Ant. unusual, unnatural, unique*, extraordinary.

2. [Of frequent occurrence]

Syn. customary, constant, usual; see frequent , habitual 1 , regular 3 .

3. [Generally known]

Syn. general, prevalent, well-known; see familiar 1 , traditional 2 .

4. [Low]

Syn. cheap, inferior, mean, vulgar; see poor 2 , subordinate , vulgar 1 .

5. [Held or enjoyed in common]

Syn. shared, joint, mutual, communal, public, community, cooperative, united, belonging equally to, collective, reciprocal, coincident, correspondent, collaborative, consensual, general, socialistic, communistic, in common, commutual; see also cooperative 2 , public 2 , universal 3 .

Ant. private*, individual, personal.

• in common,

Syn. shared, communal, mutually held, commonly held; see common 5 .

Syn.- common refers to that which is met with most frequently or is shared by all or most individuals in a group, body, etc., and may imply prevalence, usualness, or, in a depreciatory sense, inferiority or lack of distinction [ a common belief, a common thief ] ; general implies connection with all or nearly all of a kind, class, or group and stresses extensiveness [general unrest among the people ] ; ordinary implies accordance with the regular or customary pattern; stressing commonplaceness and lack of special distinction [ an ordinary workday ] ; familiar applies to that which is widely known and readily recognized [ a familiar feeling ] ; popular and, in this connection, vulgar imply widespread currency or acceptance among the general public or the common people [popular tastes, Vulgar Latin ] , with popular also used to indicate favor [ a popular song ] ; vulgar , however, is rarely used now in this sense without pejorative connotations See also Synonym Study at mutual .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. ordinary commonplace, average, everyday, usual, typical, standard, routine, regular, general, stock, *run-of-the-mill, universal, familiar, prevailing, widespread.

2. community communal, collective, shared, public, mutual.

3. basic simple, rudimentary.

4. low sleazy, base, vile, mean, cheap, inferior, coarse, second-rate, vulgar.

ANT.: 1. extraordinary, uncommon, rare. 2. private, individual. 3. advanced, complex. 4. superior, refined, high-class

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I adjective 1. Belonging to, shared by, or applicable to all alike: communal, conjoint, general, joint, mutual, public. See GROUP. 2. Belonging or relating to the whole: general, generic, universal. See SPECIFIC. 3. Occurring quite often: everyday, familiar, frequent, regular, routine, widespread. See USUAL. 4. Commonly encountered: average, commonplace, general, normal, ordinary, typical, usual. See SURPRISE. 5. Lacking high station or birth: baseborn, declasse, declassed, humble, ignoble, lowly, mean2, plebeian, unwashed, vulgar. Archaic: base2. See OVER. 6. Being of no special quality or type: average, commonplace, cut-and-dried, formulaic, garden, garden-variety, indifferent, mediocre, ordinary, plain, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, stock, undistinguished, unexceptional, unremarkable. See GOOD, USUAL. 7. Of moderately good quality but less than excellent: acceptable, adequate, all right, average, decent, fair, fairish, goodish, moderate, passable, respectable, satisfactory, sufficient, tolerable. Informal: OK, tidy. See GOOD. 8. Of low or lower quality: inferior, low-grade, low-quality, mean2, mediocre, secondclass, second-rate, shabby, substandard. See BETTER. 9. Known widely and unfavorably: infamous, notorious. See KNOWLEDGE. II noun 1. The common people. Used in plural: commonality, commonalty, commoner (used in plural), crowd, hoi polloi, mass (used in plural), mob, pleb (used in plural), plebeian (used in plural), populace, public, ruck1, third estate. See OVER. 2. A tract of cultivated land belonging to and used by a community: green. See GROUP.