commonplaceとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).

発音

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/
• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/
• ハイフネーション: com‧mon‧place

形容詞

commonplace (comparative more commonplace, superlative most commonplace)

1. Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics.

   Synonyms: routine, undistinguished, unexceptional; see also Thesaurus:hackneyed

   Antonyms: distinguished, inimitable, unique

   • 1824, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 7, in St. Ronan's Well:

     "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

   • 1911, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Under Western Eyes:

     I could get hold of nothing but of some commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our impotence before each other's trials.

名詞

commonplace (複数形 commonplaces)

1. A platitude or cliché.
   • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 17, in Active Service:

     Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.

   • 1910, Elinor Glyn, chapter 4, in His Hour:

     And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.

2. Something that is ordinary; something commonly done or occurring.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 137:

     It is odd how easily the common-places of morality or of sentiment glide off in conversation. Well, they are "exceedingly helpful," and so Lord Avonleigh found them.

   • 1892 October 14, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of a Case of Identity”, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, London: George Newnes, […], →OCLC, page 56:

     "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. […] "

   • 1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The smallest commonplace of domestic life, so amiable to the healthy mind, lacerates like a blade.

   • 2019, Li Huang; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:

     Collecting data via transects is a commonplace in biology[.]

3. A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
   • 1710, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit

     Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of common-place.

4. A commonplace book.

動詞

commonplace (三人称単数 現在形 commonplaces, 現在分詞 commonplacing, 過去形および過去分詞形 commonplaced)

1. To make a commonplace book.
2. To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
   • 1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics:

     I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the […] historians.

3. (obsolete) To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.
   • 1910, Elinor Glyn, chapter 4, in His Hour:

     And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.

   • c. January 1620, Francis Bacon, letter to the King

     For the good that comes of particular and select committees and commissions, I need not commonplace.

関連する語

• commonplace book

名詞

common-place (複数形 common-places)

1. Archaic form of commonplace.
   • 1676, “A Discouse, in which is given an Idea of the Art of Perswasion”, in The Art of Speaking: Written in French by Messieurs de Port Royal: In Pursuance of a Former Treatise, Intituled, The Art of Thinking. Rendred into English., London: […] W. Godbid, and are to be Sold by M. Pitt, […], fourth part, section III (Of Common Places), page 95:

     Common-places do properly contain nothing but general advice that remembers thoſe who conſult them of all the faces by which a ſubject may be conſidered; […]

   • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section I”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 287:

     And therefore, whatever in my ſmall Reading, occurs, concerning this our Fellow-Creature, I do never fail to ſet it down, by way of Common-place; […]

   • 1714 October 8, “Sir Walter Raleigh to Prince Henry”, in The Englishman: Being the Sequel of the Guardian, number 2, London: […] Sam. Buckley […], page 10:

     While your Highneſs is forming your ſelf for a Throne, conſider the Laws as ſo many Common-Places in your Study of the Science of Government.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 137:

     It is odd how easily the common-places of morality or of sentiment glide off in conversation. Well, they are “exceedingly helpful,” and so Lord Avonleigh found them.

   • 1836 August, “Anthologia Germanica.—No. VII. Kerner’s Lyrical Poems.”, in The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal, volume VIII, Dublin: William Curry, Jun. and Company, Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., London, page 144, column 2:

     Common-places that the ear grows intolerant of in conversation,—driftless paradoxes—clumsy descriptions—lack-a-daisiacal lamentations--rhodomontade—puerility—nonsense—these are the stock in trade of the German poet; […]

   • 1857, [John Duguid Milne], “Women of the Middle Ranks—in Their Relation with Domestic Life and Private Society—(continued)”, in Industrial and Social Position of Women, in the Middle and Lower Ranks, London: Chapman and Hall, […], section 3, page 83:

     Under present social arrangements, the concord, the mutual sympathies of a family cannot extend beyond the common-places of domestic life.

   • 1858, “Theodosia Sold at Public Auction”, in Shahmah in Pursuit of Freedom; or, The Branded Hand. Translated from the Original Showiah, and Edited by an American Citizen., New York, N.Y.: Thatcher & Hutchinson, page 401:

     I am in no mood for writing common-places; and everything, after this, appears stale to me. All language is trite and cold; for there is no sign nor image that can properly shadow forth histories that have been written, as with a pen of fire, on the naked tablets of the quick and living heart.

   • 1885 June 1, John A[lbert] Broadus, “Principles of Christian Giving”, in The Free Church Monthly and Missionary Record, number 42, page 164, column 1:

     Christianity has so far softened the jealousies of nationality and race, that the duty of disregarding these in Christian giving has fortunately become a common-place of our teaching, though it still needs to be often and earnestly enforced.

動詞

common-place (三人称単数 現在形 common-places, 現在分詞 common-placing, 過去形および過去分詞形 common-placed)

1. Archaic form of commonplace.
   • 1713, Henry Felton, A Dissertation on Reading the Classics, and Forming a Just Style. […], London: […] Jonah Bowyer, […], page 199:

     I do not apprehend any great Difficulty in Collecting, and Common-placing an univerſal Hiſtory from the whole Body of Hiſtorians; that is nothing but mechanic Labour.

   • 1830, Henry Roscoe, Eminent British Lawyers, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 84:

     He common-placed largely, and studied with great diligence the year-books and the elder writers of the law.

   • 1837, J[oseph] Chitty, “Of Retaining a Legal Agent—of Articled Clerks, Attornies, Solicitors, Proctors, Certificated Conveyancers, and Notaries—and of Special Pleaders, and Barristers—and the Qualifications and Duties of Each”, in The Practice of the Law in All Its Principal Departments; with a View of Rights, Injuries, and Remedies; […], volume II, part III, third edition, London: S. Sweet, […]; and V. & R. Stevens, […]. Milliken and Son, […], Dublin, page 5 b:

     He should be well read in works relative to Ethics and Moral Philosophy, as the basis of all law; and he should have a due sense of the still higher importance of Religion; and be well acquainted with the distinctions between the tenets of Churchmen, and of every varying description of Dissenter; be familiar with History and Biography, and have been frequently occupied in analysing and common-placing the most striking and valuable parts of every subject he has read; and moreover be resolved sedulously to cultivate and extend all these and other sources of mental improvement during his clerkship.

   • 1843 October, “Art. XI.—1. F. L. Z. Werner’s Sämmtliche Werke. […] 2. Franz Grillparzer: Dieterich Christian Grabbe: Dramatische Werke. […]”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume XXXII, number LXIII, page 112:

     He had no special vocation to the drama: but when he took to it, he common-placed Werner, and so succeeded wonderfully.

   • 1867, John Cordy Jeaffreson, “Readers and Mootmen”, in A Book about Lawyers, volume II, London: Hurst and Blackett, […], part XI (Legal Education), page 187:

     But the student was advised to read this small library again and again, “common-placing” the contents of its volumes, and also “common-placing” all new legal facts.

   • 1902, The New Jersey Law Journal, page 129:

     It is said of him that, in reply to a letter recently written to him by a young member of the Bar, requesting suggestions as to a course of reading, he stated that within the first five years after he became an attorney he common-placed “Cruise on Real Property,” and went on to remark: “But in these degenerate days ‘Cruise on Real Property,’ ‘Coke on Littleton’ and ‘Fearn on Remainders’ are back numbers.”