<B>commoner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person having no special rank or position; a person who does not belong to the nobility or ruling class. <BR> <I>Ex. In London, the man in the pub ... politely argued a princess's right to wed a commoner (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a member of the House of Commons. <DD><B> 3a. </B>(formerly) a student who paid all his expenses at an English university. <DD><B> b. </B>an undergraduate student who has no scholarship or other college award. <DD><B> 4. </B>a person who has a joint right in commonland; one who enjoys a right of common. </DL>
<A NAME="commoner">
<B>Commoner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the Court of Common Council in London. </DL>
<A NAME="commonera">
<B>Common Era,</B> <B>=Christian Era.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Abbr:) C. E. </DL>
<A NAME="commonfraction">
<B>common fraction,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fraction expressed as the ratio of two whole numbers. It is written with the numerator above and the denominator below a horizontal or diagonal line. </DL>
<A NAME="commongender">
<B>common gender,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) a classification of words that can be of either masculine or feminine gender. The words <I>parent,</I> <I>child,</I> and <I>writer</I> are said to be of common gender, whereas <I>father</I> and <I>son</I> are said to be masculine. </DL>
<A NAME="commonize">
<B>commonize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make common or vulgar. </DL>
<A NAME="commonland">
<B>commonland, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> land that is used and enjoyed by the public and is not restricted to private ownership; the common of a town, village, or other community. <BR> <I>Ex. In many areas of southern England ... owners of property near commonland are getting really hot about all these heath fires (Observer).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonlaw">
<B>common law,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>law based on custom and usage and confirmed by the decisions of judges, as distinct from <I>statute law.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the law of all countries whose legal systems derive from English law, as distinct from <I>civil</I> or <I>canon law.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>law based on the decisions of judges in actual cases; case law. </DL>
<A NAME="commonlaw">
<B>common-law, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with common law. </DL>
<A NAME="commonlawmarriage">
<B>common-law marriage,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the relationship between a couple who call themselves man and wife, but have not been married by a civil or religious ceremony. Common-law marriage is recognized in some states and not in others. </DL>
<A NAME="commonlawyer">
<B>commonlawyer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person versed in, or practicing, the common law. </DL>
<A NAME="commonlogarithm">
<B>common logarithm,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Mathematics.) a logarithm in which 10 is the base. </DL>
<A NAME="commonly">
<B>commonly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> usually; generally; ordinarily. <BR> <I>Ex. Arithmetic is commonly taught in elementary schools.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonmarket">
<B>common market,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an association of countries for promoting free trade among its members by eliminating tariffs, duties, and similar restrictions, with a common tariff for external commerce. </DL>
<A NAME="commonmarket">
<B>Common Market,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a common market originally comprising Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany, established in 1958; European Economic Community. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland, and Great Britain joined the Common Market. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, and East Germany joined as part of reunified Germany. <BR> <I>Ex. The allure of the continent's Common Market with its promise of one big trading area, accounts for ... freshening interest in European plant sites (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonmarketer">
<B>Common Marketer</B> or <B>Marketeer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the Common Market. </DL>
<A NAME="commonmeasure">
<B>common measure,</B> =common time.</DL>
<A NAME="commonmultiple">
<B>common multiple,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any number that can be divided by two or more other numbers without a remainder. <BR> <I>Ex. 12 is a common multiple of 2, 3, 4, and 6.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonname">
<B>common name,</B> =common noun.</DL>
<A NAME="commonnigntshade">
<B>common nigntshade,</B> =black nightshade.</DL>
<A NAME="commonnoun">
<B>common noun,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) a classification of nouns naming things of a group. <I>Boy, city,</I> and <I>dog</I> are common nouns. <I>John, Boston,</I> and <I>Rover</I> are proper nouns. </DL>
<A NAME="commonnumber">
<B>common number,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) a classification of words that are not definitely either singular or plural. <I>Sheep, politics,</I> and <I>fish</I> have common number because they are either singular or plural. </DL>
<A NAME="commonorgarden">
<B>common-or-garden, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) run-of-the-mill; garden-variety. <BR> <I>Ex. The "electronic music" ... turned out to be a common-or-garden zither (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonplace">
<B>commonplace, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>an everyday thing. <BR> <I>Ex. Forty years ago television was a rare novelty; today it is a commonplace.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>anything lacking originality. <BR> <I>Ex. Be not content with the commonplace in character any more than with the commonplace in ambition or intellectual attainment (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an ordinary remark. <BR> <I>Ex. Talk full of commonplaces about the weather is boring. It is a commonplace that fertile scientific activity results from the posing of the right questions (Harper's).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) a striking or notable passage cited for reference or use in a commonplace book. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) a commonplace book; a book in which to list references or memoranda. <DD><I>adj. </I> not new or interesting; everyday; ordinary. <BR> <I>Ex. The plots of television movies are often commonplace. Commonplace people dislike tragedy (John Masefield).</I> adv. <B>commonplacely.</B> noun <B>commonplaceness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="commonplacebook">
<B>commonplace book,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a book in which things of special interest are recorded to be remembered or for reference. </DL>
<A NAME="commonpleas">
<B>common pleas,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> lawsuits between private individuals that do not involve criminal cases. </DL>
<A NAME="commonprayer">
<B>common prayer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the prescribed form of liturgy in the Church of England. </DL>
<A NAME="commonroom">
<B>common room,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) a room for meetings or gatherings, as in universities or inns. <BR> <I>Ex. In his common room, he and his senior Fellows discourse ... under the sympathetic gaze of a contemporary portrait of Samuel Johnson (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commons">
<B>commons, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>common.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="commonschool">
<B>common school,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a public elementary school. </DL>
<A NAME="commonscold">
<B>common scold,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a woman whose practice of frequent scolding disturbs the peace of the neighborhood. </DL>
<A NAME="commonsense">
<B>common sense,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> good sense in everyday affairs; practical intelligence. <BR> <I>Ex. The old farmer didn't have much education but had always gotten along on a lot of common sense. He is hopeful that in the event of another war the world powers may summon enough common sense to avoid mass atomic destruction (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="commonsense">
<B>common-sense, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or showing ordinary good sense; sensible; practical. <BR> <I>Ex. He was dedicated to the common-sense notion that it was possible to do something about the ridiculous way in which civilized man was stuck in his predicaments (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<B>common-sensical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) showing common sense; sensible; practical. <BR> <I>Ex. He began to wonder whether historians were possessed of minds any more common-sensical than those Great Minds he had encountered, who had been so credulous (Josephine Tey).</I> adv. <B>common-sensically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="commonsensicality">
<B>common-sensicality, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality of being common-sensical; practical good sense. </DL>
<A NAME="commonstock">
<B>common stock,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> ordinary stock in a company. Common stock has no guaranteed rate of dividend and does not have the privileges of preferred stock. </DL>
<A NAME="commontern">
<B>common tern,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tern rather like a gull but smaller and having a forked tail, white underparts, and a black cap. </DL>
<A NAME="commontime">
<B>common time,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) meter consisting of four quarter notes to the measure; common measure. </DL>
<A NAME="commontouch">
<B>common touch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the ability to get along or establish good relations with people from all walks of life. </DL>
<A NAME="commonweal">
<B>commonweal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the general welfare; public good. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) commonwealth. </DL>
