| / English Dictionary |
COMMONPLACE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A trite or obvious remark
Synonyms:
banality; bromide; cliche; commonplace; platitude
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("commonplace" is a kind of...):
comment; input; remark (a statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information)
truism (an obvious truth)
Derivation:
commonplace (repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not challenging; dull and lacking excitement
Example:
an unglamorous job greasing engines
Synonyms:
commonplace; humdrum; prosaic; unglamorous; unglamourous
Classified under:
Similar:
unexciting (not exciting)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Completely ordinary and unremarkable
Example:
commonplace everyday activities
Classified under:
Similar:
ordinary (not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree)
Derivation:
commonplaceness (ordinariness as a consequence of being frequent and commonplace)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
Example:
the trite metaphor 'hard as nails'
Synonyms:
banal; commonplace; hackneyed; old-hat; shopworn; stock; threadbare; timeworn; tired; trite; well-worn
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unoriginal (not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual)
Derivation:
commonplace (a trite or obvious remark)
Context examples:
The number establishes cheetahs as much less commonplace than just over one hundred years ago.
(Around 7,100 cheetahs remain, say experts, Wikinews)
Standard stabilizers such as sodium alginate, guar gum, iota carrageenan, xanthan gum and carboxymethyl cellulose are commonplace.
(Freeze-Dried Strawberries and Ice Cream Make for a Very Stable Relationship, Agricultural Research Service)
In this commonplace chatter, which lasted some time, the original subject seemed entirely forgotten; and though Catherine was very well pleased to have it dropped for a while, she could not avoid a little suspicion at the total suspension of all Isabella's impatient desire to see Mr. Tilney.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
There lay the cabinet before their eyes in the quiet lamplight, a good fire glowing and chattering on the hearth, the kettle singing its thin strain, a drawer or two open, papers neatly set forth on the business table, and nearer the fire, the things laid out for tea; the quietest room, you would have said, and, but for the glazed presses full of chemicals, the most commonplace that night in London.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
It was but a card party, it was but a mixture of those who had never met before, and those who met too often; a commonplace business, too numerous for intimacy, too small for variety; but Anne had never found an evening shorter.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
I was so ashamed to allude to a commonplace thing like my box, to a scholar and a master at Salem House, that we had gone some little distance from the yard before I had the hardihood to mention it.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
There still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace rogues that he should soil his hands with them?
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As to the letters, he continued, glancing over them, they are very commonplace.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him that she would be back before very long.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I could see nothing recorded in the shape of crime which was not commonplace and futile.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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