adj.

Having no remarkable features, characteristics, or traits; ordinary.

n.

1. 1. A trite or obvious remark; a platitude: “the solidified commonplaces of established wisdom” (John Simon). See synonyms at cliché.
   2. Something that is ordinary or common.
2. Archaic. A passage marked for reference or entered in a commonplace book.

[Translation of Latin locus commūnis, generally applicable literary passage, translation of Greek koinos topos.]

commonplaceness com'mon·place'ness n.

adjective

1. Commonly encountered: average, common, general, normal, ordinary, typical, usual. See surprise/expect.
2. Being of no special quality or type: average, common, cut-and-dried, formulaic, garden, garden-variety, indifferent, mediocre, ordinary, plain, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, stock, undistinguished, unexceptional, unremarkable. See good/bad, usual/unusual.
3. Without freshness or appeal because of overuse: banal, bromidic, clichéd, corny, hackneyed, musty, overused, overworked, platitudinal, platitudinous, shopworn, stale, stereotyped, stereotypic, stereotypical, threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, warmed-over, well-worn, worn-out. See excite/bore/interest, usual/unusual.

noun

1. A trite expression or idea: banality, bromide, cliché, platitude, stereotype, truism. See surprise/expect.
2. A regular or customary matter, condition, or course of events: norm, ordinary, rule, usual. See usual/unusual.

adj

Definition: usual, everyday
Antonyms: exceptional, infrequent, peculiar, rare, uncommon, unusual

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Quotes:

"Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the same effect of youth and freshness and originality and spontaneity as it did originally, and you have done a poet's job. The rest is literature." - Jean Cocteau

"The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will." - Jose Ortega Y Gasset

"Nothing is so commonplace has the wish to be remarkable." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them." - Abraham Lincoln

"If to be interesting is to be uncommonplace, it is becoming a question, with me, if there are any commonplace people." - Mark Twain

"We can escape the commonplace only by manipulating it, controlling it, thrusting it into our dreams or surrendering it to the free play of our subjectivity." - Raoul Vaneigem

See more famous quotes about Commonplace

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - banal, almindelig
n. - banalitet, almindelighed, citat

Nederlands (Dutch)
gemeenplaats, treffende passage, afgezaagd

Français (French)
adj. - banal, commun
n. - lieu commun

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gemeinplatz, Alltägliches
adj. - banal

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κοινοτοπία, αυταπόδεικτη αλήθεια
adj. - κοινότοπος, τετριμμένος

Italiano (Italian)
luogo comune, banalità, banale

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lugar-comum (m)
adj. - desinteressante

Русский (Russian)
банальность, банальный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - cosa común, cosa corriente, vulgar, común
n. - lugar común, trivialidad, vulgaridad, apunte, nota

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - banalitet, vardaglig företeelse
adj. - alldaglig, banal

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
平凡的, 陈腐的, 常事, 普通的东西, 老生常谈

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 平凡的, 陳腐的
n. - 常事, 普通的東西, 老生常談

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 평범한, 진부한
n. - 상투어, 인용구

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - ありふれた, 平凡な, 陳腐な
n. - ありふれた事, 平凡な文句

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أمر تافه أو معتاد (صفه) مبتذل, عادي, تافه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮רגיל, נדוש, שיטחי‬
n. - ‮דבר רגיל, שגרה‬

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