commoner
noun
com·mon·er
ˈkä-mə-nər 
1
a
: one of the common people
b
: one who is not of noble rank
2
: a student (as at Oxford) who pays for his own board
Synonyms
Examples of commoner in a Sentence
a prince who married a commoner
Recent Examples on the Web
This launched a series of memes in which commoners resembling Kate get called up to play the royal.
—
Anna Russell, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2024
Legendary as the first commoner to marry a king’s daughter in four centuries, Tony wed Margaret in 1960.
—Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 17 Mar. 2024
Byron would have rejoiced in such an irony: the blue blood revered by commoners.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
Glen Cavaliero, a fellow commoner at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and president of the Powys Society, was intrigued by a reference to Paul in Powys’s letters, tracked her books down, and included her in his study of English supernatural fiction for Oxford University Press.
—Joanna Biggs, Harper's Magazine, 10 Jan. 2024
Royal weddings have been fascinating commoners for generations.
—Vogue, 30 Oct. 2023
But for us mere commoners, there are still plenty of modest and affordable options out there.
—Jermaine Gallacher, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2023
Coveting its vitality and upset by their exclusion, modern-day lords and ladies catch wind of a phrase—perhaps by commanding a commoner to explain it to them—and start using it in the castle, ruining it for everyone.
—Caleb Madison, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2023
To protect the social order, sumptuary laws were passed that discouraged commoners from dressing above their class.
—Nick Haramis, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2023
Anna Russell, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2024
Legendary as the first commoner to marry a king’s daughter in four centuries, Tony wed Margaret in 1960.
—Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 17 Mar. 2024
Byron would have rejoiced in such an irony: the blue blood revered by commoners.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
Glen Cavaliero, a fellow commoner at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and president of the Powys Society, was intrigued by a reference to Paul in Powys’s letters, tracked her books down, and included her in his study of English supernatural fiction for Oxford University Press.
—Joanna Biggs, Harper's Magazine, 10 Jan. 2024
Royal weddings have been fascinating commoners for generations.
—Vogue, 30 Oct. 2023
But for us mere commoners, there are still plenty of modest and affordable options out there.
—Jermaine Gallacher, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2023
Coveting its vitality and upset by their exclusion, modern-day lords and ladies catch wind of a phrase—perhaps by commanding a commoner to explain it to them—and start using it in the castle, ruining it for everyone.
—Caleb Madison, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2023
To protect the social order, sumptuary laws were passed that discouraged commoners from dressing above their class.
—Nick Haramis, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'commoner.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near commoner
Cite this Entry
“Commoner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commoner. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
commoner
noun
com·mon·er
ˈkäm-ə-nər
: one of the common people : a person who is not of noble rank
Biographical Definition
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