com´mon|place´ness

com|mon|place «KOM uhn _PLAYS», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. a) an everyday thing: »

Forty years ago television was a rare novelty; today it is a commonplace.

b) anything lacking originality: »

Be not content with the commonplace in character any more than with the commonplace in ambition or intellectual attainment (Atlantic).

2. an ordinary remark: »

Talk full of commonplaces about the weather is boring. It is a commonplace that fertile scientific activity results from the posing of the right questions (Harper's).

3. Obsolete. a striking or notable passage cited for reference or use in a commonplace book.

4. Obsolete. a commonplace book; a book in which to list references or memoranda.

–adj.

not new or interesting; everyday; ordinary: »

The plots of television movies are often commonplace. Commonplace people dislike tragedy (John Masefield).

╂[translation of Latin locus commūnis, a translation itself of Greek koinòs tópos generally applicable topic]

–com´mon|place´ly, adverb.

–com´mon|place´ness, noun.

Synonym Study adjective. Commonplace, trite, hackneyed mean lacking in freshness and interest. Commonplace applies to ideas and words so everyday and ordinary that they are dull: »

Most movie plots are commonplace.

Trite applies to ideas, words, and phrases that once may have been strikingly original and full of meaning, but are now too familiar by overuse and no longer interesting, such as Necessity is the mother of invention. Hackneyed applies especially to phrases that have been worn out by being used too much and have lost almost all meaning, such as last but not least, beautiful but dumb.