Commonplace vs Run-of-the-mill - What's the difference?

commonplace | run-of-the-mill | Related terms |

Commonplace is a related term of run-of-the-mill.

As adjectives the difference between commonplace and run-of-the-mill

is that commonplace is ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics while run-of-the-mill is (idiomatic) ordinary; not special.

As a noun commonplace

is a platitude or.

As a verb commonplace

is to make a commonplace book.

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)

run-of-the-mill

English

Alternative forms

* run of the mill *

Adjective

(idiomatic) ordinary; not special.

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill refrigerator; you’ll find the extra features well worth the price.

Antonyms

* cream of the crop