Word.ws English Dictionary

common sense is neither common nor sensical

common sense is neither common nor sensical proverb: many assumptions that people make through intuition, popular culture, or 'common sense' turn out to be incorrect.

Proverb

common sense is neither common nor sensical

  1. Many assumptions that people make through intuition, popular culture, or 'common sense' turn out to be incorrect.
    • In fact, much of what we call common sense is neither common, nor sensical. We use the hindsight bias to pretend facts which come to us were apparent all along. As a result we rob ourselves of the strangeness that lies ahead.2012 May 17, Scott H. Young, “The Strangeness of Everyday Things”, in Scott. H. Young Blog, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2023
    • As some anthropologists are fond of saying, common sense is neither common nor sensical.2016 March 3, Craig E. Wells, “Full Professor Lecture on March 15: Luis Vivanco, Professor of Anthropology”, in College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Vermont, archived from the original on...

Origin of common sense is neither common nor sensical

Attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

Questions about common sense is neither common nor sensical

What does common sense is neither common nor sensical mean?
Common sense is neither common nor sensical means many assumptions that people make through intuition, popular culture, or 'common sense' turn out to be incorrect.
What part of speech is common sense is neither common nor sensical?
Common sense is neither common nor sensical is a proverb.

Words near common sense is neither common nor sensical in the dictionary

  1. common seal
  2. common seals
  3. common sedge
  4. common sedges
  5. common sense
  6. common sense is neither common nor sensical
  7. Common Sense Revolution
  8. common sewer
  9. common sewers
  10. common shelduck
  11. common shelducks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: common sense is neither common nor sensical (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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