common measure

noun

|Updated on: 4 Jun 2018

Definition of common measure

: a meter consisting chiefly of iambic lines of 7 accents each arranged in rhymed pairs usually printed in 4-line stanzas — called also common meter

Recent Examples of common measure from the Web

Speed humps, which are similar to speed bumps but are slightly lower and placed at a longer driving distance, are the most common measure used.

— alejandra reyes-velarde, latimes.com, "Glendale City Council approves more lenient speed-hump criteria," 25 May 2018
The circumference of his upper arm, a common measure for malnutrition, was 7 centimeters, less than 3 inches.

— Washington Post, "In Yemen, a mother’s quest to save her baby from starvation," 5 May 2018
It’s unclear if a US court ever validated the order with an international enforcement of judgment, a common measure for foreign rulings involving US businesses.

— russell brandom, The Verge, "The battle for France.com," 30 Apr. 2018
One common measure of risk-taking, known as value-at-risk, rose sharply in the quarter.

— liz hoffman, WSJ, "Goldman Profit Surges but Investors Lament Buyback Pause," 17 Apr. 2018
As high-school GPAs continue to go up because of grade inflation, having the common measure provided by admissions test scores is useful.

— nathan kuncel and, WSJ, "The Truth About the SAT and ACT," 8 Mar. 2018
Residents of Darnestown, Maryland, are most likely to sport similar paychecks, according to Bloomberg’s calculation of the Gini Index—a common measure of income distribution among a population.

— shelly hagan, Bloomberg.com, "America’s 100 Richest Places," 5 Mar. 2018
One common measure of a congressional map is to look at the result of the median congressional district in the average statewide election (here, the five contests in 2016).

— New York Times, "Hundreds of Simulated Maps Show How Well Democrats Fared in Pennsylvania," 26 Feb. 2018
Last year, the World Bank surveyed 154 countries and determined the South Africa had the world’s highest Gini coefficient, a common measure of inequality.

— kevin sieff, Washington Post, "Cape Town is running out of water, and the crisis has highlighted the vast divide between rich and poor," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'common measure.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.