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Definition of commonplacenext
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commonplace

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noun

as in cliché
an idea or expression that has been used by many people the familiar summertime commonplace that "It's not the heat, it's the humidity"

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of commonplace
Adjective
Specialty dining promotions are also commonplace during wave season. Miami Herald, 24 Jan. 2026 Building and using frontier models has become commonplace, meaning LLMs are headed toward commodity—whereas building and hosting agentic AI applications with infrastructure is more of a challenge. R. Scott Raynovich, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
Noun
Plot details are under wraps, but that's commonplace for a Perkins project. Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Nov. 2025 Ion gauges are relatively cheap (under US $1,000) and commonplace. IEEE Spectrum, 24 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for commonplace
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commonplace
Adjective
  • To achieve the look, start by painting normal hearts.
    Kara Jillian Brown, InStyle, 31 Jan. 2026
  • This winter began unusually warm in Austin, but over the past week, Mother Nature has reminded us of her power, and how arctic cold fronts are normal for this time of year in the Lone Star State.
    Mary Wasson, Austin American Statesman, 31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Maybe Minnesota will prove to be the state where our politicians worked the hardest, lost the most face, while trying to hold the now ubiquitous ideology of violent American capitalism at bay.
    Ed Bok Lee, Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Life without a smartphone may seem unimaginable, but AI giants are planning to put the ubiquitous gadget on the scrapheap.
    Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Later, Lenape artist Joe Baker places cutout photographs of his ancestors over the stereotyped images of Native Americans found in the wallpaper.
    Tom McDonough, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2025
  • Several leaders described the pressure of being both highly visible and easily stereotyped.
    Benjamin Laker, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025
Adjective
  • Biting cold temperatures will turn the ordinary bustle of life outdoors on a North Texas weekday largely inside on Monday as wind chills drop to as low as 10 below zero.
    Star-Telegram staff, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Jan. 2026
  • The government had enacted reforms that triggered a sudden spike in the prices of basic commodities and placed immense pressure on ordinary households.
    Davood Moradian, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Saturday's game was on Amazon Prime, so a lot more people than usual saw it.
    Scott Fowler The Charlotte Observer, Arkansas Online, 2 Feb. 2026
  • The singer also took a softer approach with her glam, trading her usual babydoll blush and statement eye makeup for cloud lips, frosted highlighter, and natural-looking lashes.
    Grace McCarty, Glamour, 2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Plush cushioning on the insoles relieves tired feet during the day, making these comfortable enough to wear for hours.
    Sophie Dodd, Travel + Leisure, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Some people are probably tired of hearing my name.
    Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.
    Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.
    Linda Kinstler, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2025
Adjective
  • In other words, the typical beneficiary of tighter air quality standards is an elderly retiree, not a child or a working-age adult.
    James Broughel, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Zillow calculates the value of a typical home using the average middle third of home values (eliminating statistical anomalies at the high and low end).
    Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Commonplace.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commonplace. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.

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