How do you use the word "common" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "common" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "common": They are too busy fighting against each other to care for common ideals. You and I are good friends, but we have little in common.

Common Meaning

/ˈkɒm.ən/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

adjMutual; shared by more than one.

adjOf a quality: existing among virtually all people; universal.

Sentence Examples

They are too busy fighting against each other to care for common ideals.

You and I are good friends, but we have little in common.

We have lots of things in common besides music.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

park green usual

Antonyms:

individual uncommon

CEFR Practice Quiz

It is ____ for children to catch colds during the winter months.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Colds are a very ____ illness during the winter season.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen (“in common, together”) (from Old English samen (“together”)). Doublet of gmina and mean.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"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." — 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

"They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning." — 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:

"No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it." — 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 197:

"Thus it is sayde in the cōmon vsage." — 1530?, Robert Wyer, This boke is named the beaulte of women : translated out of Frenche in to Englysshe., page 8:

"That loss is common would not make ⁠My own less bitter, rather more: ⁠Too common! Never morning wore To evening, but some heart did break." — 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

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