What does commonplace mean?
Commonplace serves two related grammatical roles in English. As an adjective, it describes things that are ordinary, everyday, or unremarkable — so familiar that they no longer attract attention or admiration: air travel, once exotic, is now commonplace. As a noun, a commonplace is a trite or hackneyed remark, especially one delivered with an air of profundity that its staleness does not merit. The word carries a mildly pejorative connotation in both uses: to call something commonplace is to suggest it lacks originality, rarity, or distinction. Historically, the term had a more positive meaning — a 'commonplace' was a passage or idea copied into a commonplace book, a personal anthology of quotations and observations kept by scholars and writers from the Renaissance onward. That older sense survives chiefly in discussions of literary history and note-taking. Today, commonplace remains useful precisely because it names the process by which the remarkable becomes routine.
Ordinary and unremarkable; lacking originality, novelty, or distinction.
"By now, video calls are a commonplace part of working life."
A trite or ordinary remark or statement, especially one offered as if it were fresh or profound; historically, a passage recorded in a commonplace book.
"Her speech was padded with commonplaces that everyone had heard a hundred times before."
This noun sense is relatively formal or literary in modern usage.
The plural applies to the noun sense only, referring to multiple trite remarks or recorded passages.
"The eulogy was built from familiar commonplaces about a life well lived."
In Renaissance England, a 'commonplace book' was where you copied out passages worth remembering — so ironically, 'commonplace' originally meant something worth saving, not something dull.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of commonplace
Commonplace derives from the Latin phrase locus communis ('general topic'), which passed into English via the post-classical Latin locus communis used in classical rhetoric to denote a theme applicable to many cases. It entered English in the sixteenth century, when translators rendered it as 'common place', referring to such rhetorical topics and later to passages collected in commonplace books. Over time the term shifted from meaning a shared theme worthy of record to meaning something trite or ordinary, reflecting the view that commonly repeated ideas lose their force. Its root is the Latin communis ('shared, public'), which also gives us words like community and communicate.
How commonplace is actually used
As an adjective, commonplace carries a mildly dismissive connotation — describing something as commonplace implies it fails to impress. The noun sense of a 'commonplace' (a trite remark) is somewhat formal or literary today. The historical noun sense relating to commonplace books survives mainly in scholarly contexts about note-taking practices.
Easily confused with commonplace
Commonsense refers to sound practical judgment, while a commonplace is an unoriginal remark or something ordinary and unremarkable.