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

(en adjective)

Known to one.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

Acquainted.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}

Intimate or friendly.

* Shakespeare

Be thou familiar , but by no means vulgar.

Inappropriately intimate or friendly.

(Camden)

Of or pertaining to a family; familial.

* Byron

familiar feuds