Commonplace

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/

Definitions

1. Ordinary and frequently encountered, lacking in novelty or special interest
2. Mundane and widely observed, denoting a lack of uniqueness or remarkable qualities
3. Frequently seen and unremarkable, indicating a standard presence that lacks differentiation or appeal

Etymology: The adjective "commonplace" began as a translation. Its ancestor is the Latin "locus communis," a phrase used for a general argument or a passage of broadly applicable wisdom that a writer could drop into many contexts. The Latin itself was a calque of the Ancient Greek "koinòs tópos," where "koinos" means "common" and "topos" means "place" or "topic." In other words, the Greek rhetorical term for a stock argument literally meant "common place," and the English word reproduces that two-part structure piece for piece. The sense has drifted a long way from the original. A locus communis was a useful thing: a memorised store of arguments and maxims that orators and writers could reuse. Over time the phrase came to name the stale, overused idea itself, and "commonplace" in English followed that path toward meaning something ordinary to the point of dullness. The shift is a neat reversal. A tool prized for being widely applicable ended up describing anything so familiar that it no longer stands out.

Synonyms: ordinary, usual, routine

Antonyms: uncommon, rare, extraordinary