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commonplace

 - 3 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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Word Origin & History

commonplace  (n.)
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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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