Common vs Main - What's the difference?

In obsolete terms the difference between common and main

is that common is to board together; to eat at a table in common while main is great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.

As a verb common

is to communicate (something).

As an adverb main is

very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.

As a proper noun Main is

a river in southern Germany, flowing from Bavaria to the Rhine.

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

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

Statistics

* 1000 English basic words

main

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).

Adjective

(-)

(label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.

* (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)

Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.

* (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)

* , chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}

*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild

, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}

Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.

Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).

* 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:

(label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.

(label) Big; angry.

Derived terms

* main drag * main road

Adverb

(en adverb)

Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.

* 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :

* 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :

Etymology 2

From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.

Noun

(en noun)

* Spenser

That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.

* Francis Bacon

* 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :

* Francis Bacon

* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:

* 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):

* 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :

* Dryden

A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.

(label) The mainsail.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "main")

Derived terms

{{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}

Etymology 3

; compare (manual).

Noun

(en noun)

A hand or match in a game of dice.

(Prior)

(Thackeray)

A stake played for at dice.

* Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV

The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.

A match at cockfighting.

* Thackeray

A main-hamper, or fruit basket.

(Ainsworth)

Statistics

Anagrams

External links

* 1000 English basic words ----