Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the common people.
  • noun A person without noble rank or title.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the common people; a member of the commonalty.
  • noun Specifically A person inferior in rank to the nobility; one of the commons.
  • noun A member of the British House of Commons.
  • noun A member of a common council; a common-councilman.
  • noun One who has a joint right in common ground.
  • noun A student of the second rank in the University of Oxford, not dependent on the foundation for support, but paying for his board and eating at the common table: corresponding to a pensioner at Cambridge.
  • noun One who boards in commons.
  • noun A prostitute.
  • noun A partaker; one sharing with another.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of the common people; one having no rank of nobility.
  • noun A member of the House of Commons.
  • noun One who has a joint right in common ground.
  • noun obsolete One sharing with another in anything.
  • noun A student in the university of Oxford, Eng., who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges; - - at Cambridge called a pensioner.
  • noun obsolete A prostitute.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective comparative form of common: more common
  • noun A member of the common people who holds no title or rank.
  • noun UK Someone who is not of noble rank.
  • noun UK, at Oxbridge universities An undergraduate who does not hold either a scholarship or an exhibition.
  • noun obsolete, UK A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges; at Cambridge called a pensioner.
  • noun Someone holding common rights because of residence or land ownership in a particular manor, especially rights on common land.
  • noun obsolete One sharing with another in anything.
  • noun obsolete A prostitute.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who holds no title

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

common +‎ -er (“comparative suffix”)

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Examples

  • Even Rachel, her best friend, wanted to vote her Biggest Plebe in our online poll—“plebe” after the word for commoner—in social studies last year.

    Nice and Mean Jessica Leader 2010

  • Even Rachel, her best friend, wanted to vote her Biggest Plebe in our online poll—“plebe” after the word for commoner—in social studies last year.

    Nice and Mean Jessica Leader 2010

  • Even Rachel, her best friend, wanted to vote her Biggest Plebe in our online poll—“plebe” after the word for commoner—in social studies last year.

    Nice and Mean Jessica Leader 2010

  • Even Rachel, her best friend, wanted to vote her Biggest Plebe in our online poll—“plebe” after the word for commoner—in social studies last year.

    Nice and Mean Jessica Leader 2010

  • Her father initially disapproved of the match, despite the fact that 36 years ago to the day he married a "commoner" - Silvia Sommerlath, who is of mixed German and Brazilian descent.

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • And with LIFE Books' The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton we are already there with Charles and Di's son--Elizabeth's grandson--as he prepares to wed the lovely Kate Middleton in a true fairytale story: the man who will be king and the so-called "commoner" who has captured his heart.

    Royal Wedding: LIFE's Portrayal Of Will And Kate (PHOTOS) 2011

  • Justin the Genius, you mean to tell me that I can now be classified as a commoner?

    Musings of a Drunken Monk: He moves among you 2005

  • He had no power among the Canitaurs, but was only a titled commoner, more like Wagner's groom than counsel.

    The Revolutions of Time Jonathan Dunn

  • Can't you understand that I am only an untitled commoner to his people?

    The Moccasin Maker E. Pauline Johnson 1887

  • The privileged person avoids or repels taxation, not merely because it despoils him, but because it belittles him; it is a mark of the commoner, that is to say, of former servitude, and he resists the fisc (the revenue services) as much through pride as through interest.

    The Ancient Regime Hippolyte Taine 1860

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