General vs Commonplace - What's the difference?
general | commonplace |
Including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole etc.; as opposed to (specific) or (particular).
* c. 1495 , (John Skelton), "Vppon a deedman's hed":
* 1842 , Douglas Jerrold, "Mr Peppersorn ‘At Home’", Cakes and Ale :
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.27:
* 2006 , Ruth Sutherland, "Invite public to the private equity party", The Observer , 15 Oct 06:
Applied to a person (as a postmodifier or a normal preceding adjective) to indicate supreme rank, in civil or military titles, and later in other terms; pre-eminent.
* 1865 , Edward Cust, Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years War , p. 527:
* 2002 , James Turner, Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London , p. 122:
Prevalent or widespread among a given class or area; common, usual.
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , IX:
* 2008 , John Patterson, "Home movies", The Guardian , 20 Dec 08:
Not limited in use or application; applicable to the whole or every member of a class or category.
* 1924 , Time , 17 Mar 1924:
* 2009 , Douglas P Zipes, Saturday Evening Post , vol. 281:1, p. 20:
Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite.
* 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , X:
* 2006 , Kevin Nance, "Ghosts of the White City", Chicago Sun-Times , 16 Jul 06:
* 2008 , Robert P Maloney, "The Quiet Carpenter", America , vol. 199:19, p. 18:
Not limited to a specific class; miscellaneous, concerned with all branches of a given subject or area.
* 1941 , (W Somerset Maugham), Up at the Villa , Vintage 2004, p. 24:
* 1947 , "Russian Catechism", Time , 20 Oct 1947:
* 2007 , Alan Cheuse, "A Little Death", Southern Review , vol. 43:3, p. 692:
:We have dealt with the generals ; now let us turn to the particulars.
(military ranks) A senior military title, originally designating the commander of an army and now a specific rank falling under field marshal (in the British army) and below general of the army or general of the air force in the US army and air forces.
A great strategist or tactician.
*1918 , (Rebecca West), The Return of the Soldier , Virago 2014, p. 16:
*:She flung at us as we sat down, ‘My general is sister to your second housemaid.’
A general anaesthetic; general anaesthesia.
To lead (soldiers) as a general
Ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics.
* 1824 , Sir (Walter Scott), , ch. 7:
*
, 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:
A platitude or .
* 1899 , , Active Service , ch. 17:
* 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
Something that is ordinary.
* 1891 , , "A Case of Identity" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes :
A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
* Jonathan Swift
A commonplace book.
To make a commonplace book.
To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
* Felton
(obsolete) To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.
* 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
As nouns the difference between general and commonplace
is that general is general while commonplace is a platitude or.As an adjective commonplace is
ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics.As a verb commonplace is
to make a commonplace book.general
English
Alternative forms
* generall (chiefly archaic)Adjective
(en adjective)- It is generall / To be mortall: / I haue well espyde / No man may hym hyde / From Deth holow eyed [...].
- "Among us!" was the general shout, and Peppersorn sat frozen to his chair.
- Undoubtedly the age of the Antonines was much better than any later age until the Renaissance, from the point of view of the general happiness.
- One advantage of having profitable companies in Britain is that they pay large sums in corporate tax into the Exchequer, which in theory at least is used for the general good.
- For these successes he obtained the rank of Field-Marshal General .
- He becomes the chief chartered libertine, the whoremaster-general flourishing his "standard" over a female army [...].
- ‘I can't quite afford you the sympathy you expect upon this score,’ I replied; ‘the misfortune is so general , that it belongs to one half of the species [...].’
- The general opinion on Baz Luhrmann's overstuffed epic Australia seems to be that it throws in everything but the kitchen sink, and then tosses that in too, just to be sure.
- M. Venizelos went to Athens from Paris early last January in response to a general invitation from the Greek populace.
- Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a general term indicating a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) coming from the top chambers of the heart - in essence, above (supra) the lower chamber (ventricular).
- As she thus spoke, the entrance of the servants with dinner cut off all conversation but that of a general nature.
- The quick answer is that the 1893 Exposition was simply so important -- "the greatest event in the history of the country since the Civil War," as Harper's put it that October -- but that feels too general .
- Given the scarcity of relevant historical detail in the New Testament, we are left with only a general outline about Joseph.
- There was a moment's pause. The Princess broke in with some casual remark and once more the conversation became general .
- Already in the primary school work is conducted for the purpose of equipping the pupils with those elements of general knowledge which are closely related to the military preparation of future warriors.
- His measured, springless walk was the walk of the skilled countryman as distinct from the desultory shamble of the general labourer [...].
Antonyms
* particular * specificDerived terms
* agent general * brigadier general * colonel general * generality * generally * generalisation, generalization * generalise, generalize * general anaesthetic * general knowledge * in general * lieutenant general * major generalNoun
(en noun)- Hannibal was one of the greatest generals of the ancient world.
Usage notes
When used as a title, it is always capitalized. : Example: General John Doe. The rank corresponds to pay grade O-10. Abbreviations: GEN.See also
* hetmanVerb
Statistics
*Anagrams
* 1000 English basic words ----commonplace
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."
- 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 alsoAntonyms
* distinguished * inimitable * uniqueNoun
(en noun)- Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.
- And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
- "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."
- Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace .
Verb
(commonplac)- I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the historians.
- 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)