Adjective

(en-adj)

Mutual; shared by more than one.

* , chapter=19

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}

Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke

, title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}

Found in large numbers or in a large quantity.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=Lee A. Groat, title=Gemstones

, volume=100, issue=2, page=128, magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)}}

Simple, ordinary or vulgar.

* Washington Irving

the honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life

* Shakespeare

This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.

* A. Murphy

above the vulgar flight of common souls

*

She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.

(grammar) In some languages, particularly Germanic languages, of the gender originating from the coalescence of the masculine and feminine categories of nouns.

Of or pertaining to uncapitalized nouns in English, i.e., common nouns vs. proper nouns.

Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal, i.e., common name vs. scientific name.

(obsolete) Profane; polluted.

* Bible, Acts x. 15

What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common .

(obsolete) Given to lewd habits; prostitute.

* L'Estrange

a dame who herself was common

Adjective

(-)

(obsolete) Pertaining only to a part of something; partial.

Specific; discrete; concrete.

I couldn't find the particular model you asked for, but I hope this one will do.

We knew it was named after John Smith, but nobody knows which particular John Smith.

* Shakespeare

[Make] each particular hair to stand an end, / Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

Specialised; characteristic of a specific person or thing.

I don't appreciate your particular brand of cynicism.

* Francis Bacon

wheresoever one plant draweth such a particular juice out of the earth

(obsolete) Known only to an individual person or group; confidential.

* 1623 , William Shakespeare, King Lear , V.1:

or these domesticke and particular broiles, Are not the question heere.

Distinguished in some way; special (often in negative constructions).

My five favorite places are, in no particular order, New York, Chicago, Paris, San Francisco and London.

I didn't have any particular interest in the book.

He brought no particular news.

She was the particular belle of the party.

(comparable) Of a person, concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious.

He is very particular about his food and if it isn't cooked to perfection he will send it back.

Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise.

a full and particular account of an accident

(legal) Containing a part only; limited.

a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder

(legal) Holding a particular estate.

a particular tenant

(Blackstone)

(logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject.

a particular proposition, opposed to "universal", e.g. (particular affirmative) "Some men are wise"; (particular negative) "Some men are not wise".