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commonplace

 - 2 dictionary results

com⋅mon⋅place

  [kom-uhn-pleys]
Use commonplace in a Sentence
–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.
Origin:
1525–35; trans. of L locus commūnis, itself trans. of Gk koinòs tópos

Related forms:
com⋅mon⋅place⋅ly, adverb
com⋅mon⋅place⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
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. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To commonplace
com·mon·place   (kŏm'ən-plās')   
adj.  Having no remarkable features, characteristics, or traits; ordinary.
n.  

    1. A trite or obvious remark; a platitude: "the solidified commonplaces of established wisdom" (John Simon). See Synonyms at cliché.

    2. Something that is ordinary or common.

  2. Archaic A passage marked for reference or entered in a commonplace book.


[Translation of Latin locus commūnis, generally applicable literary passage, translation of Greek koinos topos.]
com'mon·place'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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