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Common vs Primary - What's the difference?

common | primary |

As adjectives the difference between common and primary

is that common is mutual; shared by more than one while primary is the first in a group or series.

As nouns the difference between common and primary

is that common is mutual good, shared by more than one while primary is a primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party.

As verbs the difference between common and primary

is that common is (obsolete) to communicate (something) while primary is (us|intransitive) to take part in a primary election.

common

English

(wikipedia common)

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

    Synonyms

    * (mutual ): mutual, shared * (usual ): normal, ordinary, standard, usual * (occurring in large numbers or in a large quantity ): widespread * See also

    Antonyms

    * (mutual ): personal, individual * (usual ): rare, unusual, uncommon * (occurring in large numbers or in a large quantity ): few and far between, rare, uncommon

    See also

    * (English grammar ): epicene, feminine, masculine, neuter

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Mutual good, shared by more than one.
  • A tract of land in common ownership; common land.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
  • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common .}}
  • The people; the community.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • the weal o' the common
  • (label) The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To communicate (something).
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans, Bible , Luke XXII:
  • Then entred Satan into Judas, whose syr name was iscariot (which was of the nombre off the twelve) and he went his waye, and commened with the hye prestes and officers, how he wolde betraye hym vnto them.
  • (obsolete) To converse, talk.
  • * , II.ix:
  • So long as Guyon with her commoned , / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye [...].
  • * Grafton
  • Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of.
  • (obsolete) To have sex.
  • (obsolete) To participate.
  • (Sir Thomas More)
  • (obsolete) To have a joint right with others in common ground.
  • (Johnson)
  • (obsolete) To board together; to eat at a table in common.
  • Derived terms

    * common name * commonality * common dolphin * commoner * common gender * the common good * common noun * common-or-garden * commonplace * commons * common radish * commonsense * common touch * House of Commons * in common

    primary

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • The first in a group or series.
  • Children attend primary school, and teenagers attend secondary school.
  • * Bishop Pearson
  • the church of Christ, in its primary institution
  • * John Locke
  • These I call original, or primary , qualities of body.
  • Main; principal; placed ahead of others.
  • Preferred stock has primary claim on dividends, ahead of common stock.
  • (geology) Earliest formed; fundamental.
  • (chemistry) Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
  • (label) idiopathic
  • Derived terms

    * primarily * primary care * primary color, primary colour * primary producer * primary research * primary school * primary source

    See also

    * first * primus inter pares * secondary (2) * tertiary (3) * quaternary (4)

    Noun

    (primaries)
  • A primary election; a preliminary election to select a political candidate of a political party.
  • The first year of grade school.
  • A base or fundamental component; something that is irreducible.
  • The most massive component of a gravitationally bound system.
  • A primary school.
  • * 2001 , David Woods, Martyn Cribb, Effective LEAs and school improvement
  • Excellence in Cities offers a further development of this approach, whereby secondary schools operate with small clusters of primaries as mini-EAZs.
  • (ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the manus (hand) of a bird.
  • A primary colour.
  • * 2003 , Julie A Jacko, Andrew Sears, The human-computer interaction handbook
  • By adding and subtracting the three primaries , cyan, yellow, and magenta are produced. These are called subtractive primaries.
  • (electronics) A directly driven inductive coil, as in a transformer or induction motor that is magnetically coupled to a secondary
  • Verb

  • (US) To take part in a primary election.
  • (US, politics) To challenge an incumbent sitting politician for their political party's endorsement to run for re-election, through running a challenger campaign in a primary election