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Commonplace vs Prevailing - What's the difference?

commonplace | prevailing |

As adjectives the difference between commonplace and prevailing

is that commonplace is ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics while prevailing is predominant; of greatest force.

As verbs the difference between commonplace and prevailing

is that commonplace is to make a commonplace book while prevailing is .

As a noun commonplace

is a platitude or.

commonplace

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics.
  • * 1824 , Sir (Walter Scott), , ch. 7:
    • "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}
  • * 1911 , (w), (Under Western Eyes) , ch. 1:
    • I could get hold of nothing but of some commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our impotence before each other's trials.

    Synonyms

    * routine * undistinguished * unexceptional * See also

    Antonyms

    * distinguished * inimitable * unique

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A platitude or .
  • * 1899 , , Active Service , ch. 17:
    • Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.
  • * 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
    • And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
  • Something that is ordinary.
  • * 1891 , , "A Case of Identity" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes :
    • "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence."
  • A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace .
  • A commonplace book.

    • Verb

    (commonplac)
  • To make a commonplace book.
  • To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
  • * Felton
    • I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the historians.
  • (obsolete) To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.
  • * 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
    • And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
    (Francis Bacon)

    Related terms

    * commonplace book English calques

    prevailing

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Predominant; of greatest force.
    • The prevailing opinion was for additional planning time.
  • * '', reprinted in 1797, John Bell, ''Bell's British Theatre , Volume 33, page 37 (within play),
    • He has a humour more prevailing than his curiosity, and will willingly dispense with the hearing of one scandalous story, to avoid giving an occasion to make another, by being seen to walk with his wife.
  • * 1807 , , The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner , page 187,
    • and as merciful coun?els are mo?t prevailing when earne?tly pre??ed, ?o I got them to be of the ?ame opinion as to clemency.
  • * 1826 , , House of Commons Papers , Volume 17, page 411,
    • I have heard generally that alderman Archer has a more prevailing and powerful influence in the commons than any other alderman, and exercises that influence ;
  • Prevalent, common, widespread.
  • * 1829 , James Annesley, Sketches of the Most Prevalent Diseases of India , page 247,
    • Fever'' and ''dysentery are the most prevailing diseases in this division, more particularly the latter, which is one of the most destructive amongst the troops in India, and particularly so in the European constitution.
  • * 1832 , David Brewster, Spain'', entry in ''The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia , Volume 17, page 371,
    • One of the most prevailing defects in this people is their invincible indolence, and hatred of labour, which has, at all times, paralysed the government of their best princes, and impeded the success of their most brilliant enterprises.
  • * 1940 , Australian Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia No. 33 - 1940 , page 49,
    • In Sydney at 9 am, by far the most prevailing wind is a westerly, particularly during the colder two-thirds of the year.

    Verb

    (head)