Dictionary › C › commons
commons
2 syllablesYour browser doesn’t have built-in voices. Try Chrome, Edge or Safari.
As a noun, commons means a public area, especially a dining hall, at a college or university.
Meanings of commons
11 meaningsnoun
A public area, especially a dining hall, at a college or university; a similar shared spaced elsewhere.
A central section of (usually an older) town, designated as a shared area: a common.
“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.”
figurativelyThe 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.”
The common people collectively, the third estate, the people not belonging to the nobility or clergy
chiefly historicalThe free burghers/bourgeoisie of a given town, taken collectively.
Food in general; rations.
“short commons”
A pasture subject to common uselocation
Similar: common landA class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank
Similar: commonalty, commonality
Older and rare meanings (2)
euphemisticobsoleteAn outhouse.
obsoleteUKoxford universityFood served at a fixed rate from the college buttery, distinguished from battels.
Plural of common
verb
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of common
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).