Search Result for "common": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area;
- Example: "they went for a walk in the park"
[syn: park, commons, common, green]


ADJECTIVE (9)

1. belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public;
- Example: "for the common good"
- Example: "common lands are set aside for use by all members of a community"

2. having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual;
- Example: "the common man"
- Example: "a common sailor"
- Example: "the common cold"
- Example: "a common nuisance"
- Example: "followed common procedure"
- Example: "it is common knowledge that she lives alone"
- Example: "the common housefly"
- Example: "a common brand of soap"

3. common to or shared by two or more parties;
- Example: "a common friend"
- Example: "the mutual interests of management and labor"
[syn: common, mutual]

4. commonly encountered;
- Example: "a common (or familiar) complaint"
- Example: "the usual greeting"
[syn: common, usual]

5. being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language;
- Example: "common parlance"
- Example: "a vernacular term"
- Example: "vernacular speakers"
- Example: "the vulgar tongue of the masses"
- Example: "the technical and vulgar names for an animal species"
[syn: common, vernacular, vulgar]

6. of or associated with the great masses of people;
- Example: "the common people in those days suffered greatly"
- Example: "behavior that branded him as common"
- Example: "his square plebeian nose"
- Example: "a vulgar and objectionable person"
- Example: "the unwashed masses"
[syn: common, plebeian, vulgar, unwashed]

7. of low or inferior quality or value;
- Example: "of what coarse metal ye are molded"- Shakespeare
- Example: "produced...the common cloths used by the poorer population"
[syn: coarse, common]

8. lacking refinement or cultivation or taste;
- Example: "he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind"
- Example: "behavior that branded him as common"
- Example: "an untutored and uncouth human being"
- Example: "an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"
- Example: "appealing to the vulgar taste for violence"
- Example: "the vulgar display of the newly rich"
[syn: coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth, vulgar]

9. to be expected; standard;
- Example: "common decency"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Common \Com"mon\, a. [Compar. Commoner; superl. Commonest.] [OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis; com- + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E. mean low, common. Cf. Immunity, Commune, n. & v.] 1. Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property. [1913 Webster] Though life and sense be common to men and brutes. --Sir M. Hale. [1913 Webster] 2. Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members of a class, considered together; general; public; as, properties common to all plants; the common schools; the Book of Common Prayer. [1913 Webster] Such actions as the common good requireth. --Hooker. [1913 Webster] The common enemy of man. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. Often met with; usual; frequent; customary. [1913 Webster] Grief more than common grief. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary; plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense. [1913 Webster] The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster] This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Above the vulgar flight of common souls. --A. Murphy. [1913 Webster] 5. Profane; polluted. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. --Acts x. 15. [1913 Webster] 6. Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute. [1913 Webster] A dame who herself was common. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster] Common bar (Law) Same as Blank bar, under Blank. Common barrator (Law), one who makes a business of instigating litigation. Common Bench, a name sometimes given to the English Court of Common Pleas. Common brawler (Law), one addicted to public brawling and quarreling. See Brawler. Common carrier (Law), one who undertakes the office of carrying (goods or persons) for hire. Such a carrier is bound to carry in all cases when he has accommodation, and when his fixed price is tendered, and he is liable for all losses and injuries to the goods, except those which happen in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies of the country, or of the owner of the property himself. Common chord (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental tone, with its third and fifth. Common council, the representative (legislative) body, or the lower branch of the representative body, of a city or other municipal corporation. Common crier, the crier of a town or city. Common divisor (Math.), a number or quantity that divides two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder; a common measure. Common gender (Gram.), the gender comprising words that may be of either the masculine or the feminine gender. Common law, a system of jurisprudence developing under the guidance of the courts so as to apply a consistent and reasonable rule to each litigated case. It may be superseded by statute, but unless superseded it controls. --Wharton. Note: It is by others defined as the unwritten law (especially of England), the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, as ascertained and expressed in the judgments of the courts. This term is often used in contradistinction from statute law. Many use it to designate a law common to the whole country. It is also used to designate the whole body of English (or other) law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local, civil, admiralty, equity, etc. See Law. Common lawyer, one versed in common law. Common lewdness (Law), the habitual performance of lewd acts in public. Common multiple (Arith.) See under Multiple. Common noun (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of objects, as distinguished from a proper noun (the name of a particular person or thing). Common nuisance (Law), that which is deleterious to the health or comfort or sense of decency of the community at large. Common pleas, one of the three superior courts of common law at Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and four puisne judges. Its jurisdiction is confined to civil matters. Courts bearing this title exist in several of the United States, having, however, in some cases, both civil and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole State. In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a county court. Its powers are generally defined by statute. Common prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England, or of the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, which all its clergy are enjoined to use. It is contained in the Book of Common Prayer. Common school, a school maintained at the public expense, and open to all. Common scold (Law), a woman addicted to scolding indiscriminately, in public. Common seal, a seal adopted and used by a corporation. Common sense. (a) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond of all the others. [Obs.] --Trench. (b) Sound judgment. See under Sense. Common time (Mus.), that variety of time in which the measure consists of two or of four equal portions. In common, equally with another, or with others; owned, shared, or used, in community with others; affecting or affected equally. Out of the common, uncommon; extraordinary. Tenant in common, one holding real or personal property in common with others, having distinct but undivided interests. See Joint tenant, under Joint. To make common cause with, to join or ally one's self with. Syn: General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent; ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See Mutual, Ordinary, General. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Common \Com"mon\, n. 1. The people; the community. [Obs.] "The weal o' the common." --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; -- so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right. [1913 Webster] Common appendant, a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the waste land in the manor where they dwell. Common appurtenant, a similar right applying to lands in other manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable, as hogs. Common because of vicinage or Common because of neighborhood, the right of the inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their beasts stray into the other's fields. - Common in gross or Common at large, a common annexed to a man's person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole. --Blackstone. Common of estovers, the right of taking wood from another's estate. Common of pasture, the right of feeding beasts on the land of another. --Burill. Common of piscary, the right of fishing in waters belonging to another. Common of turbary, the right of digging turf upon the ground of another. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Common \Com"mon\, v. i. 1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of. --Grafton. [1913 Webster] 2. To participate. [Obs.] --Sir T. More. [1913 Webster] 3. To have a joint right with others in common ground. --Johnson. [1913 Webster] 4. To board together; to eat at a table in common. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

common adj 1: belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public; "for the common good"; "common lands are set aside for use by all members of a community" [ant: individual, single] 2: having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual; "the common man"; "a common sailor"; "the common cold"; "a common nuisance"; "followed common procedure"; "it is common knowledge that she lives alone"; "the common housefly"; "a common brand of soap" [ant: uncommon] 3: common to or shared by two or more parties; "a common friend"; "the mutual interests of management and labor" [syn: common, mutual] 4: commonly encountered; "a common (or familiar) complaint"; "the usual greeting" [syn: common, usual] 5: being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language; "common parlance"; "a vernacular term"; "vernacular speakers"; "the vulgar tongue of the masses"; "the technical and vulgar names for an animal species" [syn: common, vernacular, vulgar] 6: of or associated with the great masses of people; "the common people in those days suffered greatly"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "his square plebeian nose"; "a vulgar and objectionable person"; "the unwashed masses" [syn: common, plebeian, vulgar, unwashed] 7: of low or inferior quality or value; "of what coarse metal ye are molded"- Shakespeare; "produced...the common cloths used by the poorer population" [syn: coarse, common] 8: lacking refinement or cultivation or taste; "he had coarse manners but a first-rate mind"; "behavior that branded him as common"; "an untutored and uncouth human being"; "an uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"; "appealing to the vulgar taste for violence"; "the vulgar display of the newly rich" [syn: coarse, common, rough-cut, uncouth, vulgar] 9: to be expected; standard; "common decency" n 1: a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area; "they went for a walk in the park" [syn: park, commons, common, green]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

427 Moby Thesaurus words for "common": Astroturf, Attic, Babbittish, Mickey Mouse, Philistine, Spartan, absolute interest, accustomed, adequate, all right, artificial turf, ascetic, associated, austere, average, back-number, bald, banal, bare, base, baseborn, beggarly, below the salt, beneath contempt, benefit, besetting, bewhiskered, bourgeois, bowling green, breezy, bromidic, campy, candid, casual, central, chaste, cheap, cheesy, civic, civil, claim, classic, classical, cliched, coacting, coactive, coadjutant, coadjuvant, coarse, cockney, coefficient, collaborative, collective, collectivist, collectivistic, colloquial, collusive, combined, commensal, commonage, commoners, commonly known, commonplace, commons, communal, communalist, communalistic, communist, communistic, communitarian, community, commutual, concerted, concordant, concurrent, concurring, conjoint, conjunct, conniving, contemptible, contingent interest, conventional, conversational, cooperant, cooperating, cooperative, corny, corporate, cosmopolitan, crummy, current, customary, cut-and-dried, declasse, defiled, demeaning, despicable, direct, disadvantaged, dominant, down-to-earth, dry, dull, easement, ecumenic, epidemic, equitable interest, equity, estate, everyday, fade, fairway, familiar, fellow, flat, fourth-class, frank, frequent, frequentative, fusty, garden, garden-variety, gaudy, general, generic, gimcracky, golf course, golf links, good, grassplot, green, greenyard, grounds, habitual, hack, hackney, hackneyed, harmonious, harmonized, high-camp, holding, homely, homespun, household, humble, humdrum, in common, in the shade, inferior, informal, infra dig, insipid, interest, intermediary, intermediate, international, irregular, joint, junior, kitschy, lawn, lean, less, lesser, like, limitation, low, low-camp, low-class, low-grade, low-pressure, low-quality, low-test, lowborn, lowbred, lower, lowly, many, many times, matter-of-fact, mean, medial, median, mediocre, medium, meretricious, middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middling, minor, miserable, moderate, modest, moth-eaten, mundane, musty, mutual, national, natural, neat, no great shakes, nonclerical, noncompetitive, nondescript, nonstandard, normal, normative, not rare, notorious, of common occurrence, oft-repeated, oftentime, old hat, open, ordinary, ornery, overused, paltry, pandemic, paradise, park, part, pathetic, pedestrian, people, percentage, pitiable, pitiful, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, plastic, platitudinous, plaza, pleasance, pleasure garden, pleasure ground, plebeian, plebeians, poetryless, polluted, poor, pop, populace, popular, predominant, predominating, prescriptive, prevailing, prevalent, proletarian, prosaic, prosing, prosy, proverbial, public, public park, punk, pure, pure and simple, putting green, rampant, rank and file, reciprocal, recurrent, regnant, regular, regulation, reigning, relaxed, repetitious, respective, rife, right, right of entry, routine, rubbishy, rude, ruling, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, running, rustic, sad, satisfactory, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, scuzzy, second rank, second string, second-best, second-class, second-rate, secondary, seedy, servile, set, settlement, severe, shabby, shabby-genteel, shared, shoddy, similar, simple, simple-speaking, sleazy, sober, social, socialistic, societal, sorry, spare, spoken, square, stake, stale, standard, stark, state, stereotyped, stock, straightforward, strict settlement, sub, subaltern, subject, subordinate, subservient, substandard, suburban, sufficient, supranational, symbiotic, synergetic, synergic, synergistic, tacky, talked-about, talked-of, tatty, thick-coming, third estate, third rank, third string, third-class, third-estate, third-rate, threadbare, timeworn, tinny, tired, tiresome, title, tolerable, trashy, trite, truistic, trumpery, trust, two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, two-way, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, typical, unadorned, unaffected, unclean, uncompetitive, unconstrained, underprivileged, undistinguished, uneducated, unembellished, uneventful, unexceptionable, unexceptional, unexciting, unfussy, ungenteel, unidealistic, unimaginative, unimpassioned, unimpeachable, uninteresting, universal, universally admitted, universally recognized, unliterary, unnoteworthy, unoriginal, unpoetic, unpoetical, unrefined, unremarkable, unreserved, unromantic, unspectacular, unstudied, unvarnished, use, usual, valueless, vapid, vernacular, vested interest, vile, village green, vulgar, warmed-over, well-kenned, well-known, well-recognized, well-understood, well-worn, widely known, wonted, workaday, workday, worn, worn out, worn thin, worthless, wretched
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

COMMON. or right of common, English law. An encorporeal hereditament, which consists in a profit which a man has in the lands of another. 12 S. & R. 32; 10 Wend. R. 647; 11 John. R. 498; 2 Bouv. Inst. 1640, et seq. 2. Common is of four sorts; of pasture, piscary, turbary and estovers. Finch's Law, 157; Co. Litt. 122; 2 Inst. 86; 2 Bl. Com. 32. 3. - 1. Common of pasture is a right of feeding one's beasts on another's land, and is either appendant, appurtenant, or in gross. 4. Common appendant is of common right, and it may be claimed in pleading as appendant, without laying a prescription. Hargr. note to 2 Inst. 122, a note. 5. Rights of common appurtenant to the claimant's land are altogether independent of the tenure, and do not arise from any absolute necessity; but may be annexed to lands in other lordships, or extended to other beasts besides. such as are generally commonable. 6. Common in gross, or at large, is such as is neither appendant nor appurtenant to land, but is annexed to a man's person. All these species of pasturable common, may be and usually are limited to number and time; but there are also commons without stint, which last all the year. 2 Bl. Com. 34. 7. - 2. Common of piscary is the liberty of fishing in another man's water. lb. See Fishery. 8. - 3. Common of turbary is the liberty of digging turf in another man's ground. Ib. 9.-4. Common of estovers is the liberty of taking necessary wood-for the use or furniture of a house or farm from another man's estate. Ib.; 10 Wend. R. 639. See Estovers. 10. The right of common is little known in the United States, yet there are some regulations to be found in relation to this subject. The constitution of Illinois provides for the continuance of certain commons in that state. Const. art. 8, s. 8. 11. All unappropriated lands on the Chesapeake Bay, on the Shore of the sea, or of any river or creek, and the bed of any river or creek, in the eastern parts of the commonwealth, ungranted and used as common, it is declared by statute in Virginia, shall remain so, and not be subject to grant. 1 Virg. Rev. C. 142. 12. In most of the cities and towns in the United States, there are considerable tracts of land appropriated to public use. These commons were generally laid out with the cities or towns where they are found, either by the original proprietors or by the early inhabitants. Vide 2 Pick. Rep. 475; 12 S. & R. 32; 2 Dane's. Ab. 610; 14 Mass. R. 440; 6 Verm. 355. See, in general, Vin. Abr. Common; Bac. Abr. Common; Com. Dig. Common; Stark. Ev. part 4, p. 383; Cruise on Real Property, h.t.; Metc. & Perk. Dig. Common, and Common lands and General fields.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

COMMON, TENANTS IN. Tenants in common are such as hold an estate, real or personal, by several distinct titles, but by a unity of possession. Vide Tenant in common; Estate in common.