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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

commonplace.

Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/General-American/ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.

Where this word comes from

A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).

noun/ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/General-American/ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A platitude or cliché.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Something that is ordinary; something commonly done or occurring.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A commonplace book.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).

verb/ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/General-American/ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To make a commonplace book.

    transitive
  2. To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.

    transitive
  3. To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.