commons
Syllables: com·monsUK/ˈkɒmənz//ˈkɑmənz/
commons is the plural of common.
commons is the third-person singular simple present indicative of common.
Noun
commons sg or pl
- A public area, especially a dining hall, at a college or university; a similar shared space elsewhere.
- A common (common land); especially, a central section of (usually an older) town, designated as a shared area.
- The Renaissance festival started with the "peasants" meeting in the commons.
- The commons is the green space surrounded by the village hall, the school, and the church.
- The mutual good of all; the abstract concept of resources shared by more than one, for example air, water, information.
- "The tragedy of the commons" is that none wish to make sacrifices of their or their family's interests for the common good.
- Synonyms:
- res communis
- The common people collectively, the third estate, the people not belonging to the nobility or clergy.
- We in the name of other Perſean ſtates [i.e. nobles],
And commons of this mightie Monarchy,
Preſent thee with the Emperiall Diadem.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- commoners
- We in the name of other Perſean ſtates [i.e. nobles],
- The free burghers/bourgeoisie of a given town, taken collectively.
- An outhouse.
- Synonyms:
- common house, House of Commons, backhouse, backside, bog, boggard, boghouse, carsey, chamber foreign, Cousin John
- Food served at a fixed rate from the college buttery, distinguished from battels.
- At the same time, the fashion at Oxford of confining lunch to a "commons" of bread and butter and a glass of beer till the crew reaches Putney (when a little meat is allowed,) is unreasonable.1875, Walter Bradford Woodgate, "Oars and Sculls," and How to Use Them (page 125)
- Food in general; rations.
- short commons
- Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or plantains, we had very short commons, and the boisterous weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on what few eatable birds we could shoot, with an occasional cuscus, or eastern opossum, the only quadruped, except pigs, inhabiting the island.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 357
Meaning of common
Noun
common (plural commons)
- Mutual good, shared by more than one.
- A tract of land in common ownership; common land.
- The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
- Synonyms:
- commons
- The people; the community.
- the weal o' the commonc. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Commons
the Commons
- The House of Commons, part of the parliament under the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy.
- Faced with defeat in the Commons, the Government cancelled and re-advertised the contract, the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company's offer being now accepted for the sea part of the route.1960 May, K. A. Murray, “Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire”, in Railway Magazine, page 305
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Commons
Commons
- A surname.
Synonyms of commons
- res communis
- commoners
- common house
- House of Commons
- backhouse
- backside
- bog
- carsey
- craphouse
- dunnekin
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Origin of commons
Ellipsis of House of Commons.
* English and Irish (Mayo Tipperary and Galway): variant of Cummings. * English: variant of Common with post-medieval excrescent -s.
Words formed from commons
Phrases with commons
Questions about commons
- What does commons mean?
- Commons means a public area, especially a dining hall, at a college or university; a similar shared space elsewhere.
- What is commons the plural of?
- Commons is the plural of common.
- What part of speech is commons?
- Commons can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce commons?
- Commons is pronounced /ˈkɑmənz/ (US).
Words near commons in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: commons (page history and authors); Commons (page history and authors); common (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-commons.ogg.
Cite this entry: “commons.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/commons. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.