Nearby Words

commonplace

[kom-uhn-pleys] Example Sentences Origin

com·mon·place

[kom-uhn-pleys]
adjective
1.
ordinary; undistinguished or uninteresting; without individuality: a commonplace person.
2.
trite; hackneyed; platitudinous: a commonplace remark.
noun
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.

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Commonplace is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

Origin:
1525–35; translation of Latin locus commūnis, itself translation of Greek koinòs tópos

com·mon·place·ly, adverb
com·mon·place·ness, noun
un·com·mon·place, adjective


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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To commonplace
Example Sentences
  • The unlikely is commonplace in television movies and dramas.
  • Such economic and civic engagement would be commonplace at land-grant universities and engineering schools.
  • Performance-related pay is the norm, and redundancy commonplace.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
commonplace (ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs)
 
adj
1.  ordinary; everyday: commonplace duties
2.  dull and obvious; trite: commonplace prose
 
n
3.  something dull and trite, esp a remark; platitude; truism
4.  a passage in a book marked for inclusion in a commonplace book, etc
5.  an ordinary or common thing
 
[C16: translation of Latin locus commūnis argument of wide application, translation of Greek koinos topos]
 
'commonplaceness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

commonplace
1549, "a statement generally accepted," lit. translation of L. locus communis, from Gk. koinos topos "general topic." The adj. sense of "having nothing original" dates from 1609.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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