commonalty

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English communalte, comonalte, from Old French comunalté, comunauté (modern communauté), probably from an alteration of communité, from Latin commūnitās.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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commonalty (countable and uncountable, plural commonalties)

  1. The common people; the commonality.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commonalty
    • 1759, David Hume, “[Henry VIII.] Chapter XXXII.”, in The History of England, under the House of Tudor. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 239:
      The people were averse to him, as the supposed author of the violence on the monasteries; establishments which were still revered and beloved by the commonalty.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 5:
      In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect it.
    • 1906, Sinclair Lewis, "Unknown Undergraduates" first published in the Yale Literary Magazine, June, 1906, in The Man from Main Street: Selected Essays and Other Writings, 1904-1950, Harry E. Maule and Melville H. Cane (eds.), New York: Pocket Books, 1962, p. 122,
      Besides the men who are unknown but important there is the commonalty, whom you regard as mere entities, whose very names you do not know, or will forget before your triennial.
  2. A group of things having similar characteristics. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
  3. A class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank; commoners.
    • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum 35”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book 1, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 353:
      […] and all the people wholly for this gentleness, first the estates both high and low, and after the commonalty cried at once: Sir Launcelot hath won the field whosoever say nay.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
      Second Citizen: Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?
      First Citizen: Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty.
    • 1910, Fiona Macleod, “The Harping of Cravetheen”, in The Sin-Eater, The Washer of the Ford and Other Legendary Moralities‎[1], New York: Duffield & Co., pages 91–2:
      The commonalty spoke of his mighty spear-thrust, of his deft sword-swing, the terror of his wrath, of the fury of his battle-lust, of his laughter and light joy, and the singing that was on his lips when his sword had the silence upon it.
  4. The state or quality of having things in common.
    • 1988, Nadine Gordimer, The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places, New York: Knopf, page 8:
      Or is there some way in which the product of that solitude—writing—may none the less be profoundly social, rejoining the commonalty of society, and through its indirections and specificities being the most authentic contribution the writer can offer?
    • 2000, Stephen O. Murray, Homosexualities, University of Chicago Press, Part 3, Chapter 9, p. 382:
      Some individuals fight the expectation that they ought to be part of any such "we," while others eagerly seek a sense of commonalty.
  5. A shared feature.
    • 2007, Curt R. Blakely, chapter 2, in Prisons, Penology and Penal Reform: An Introduction to Institutional Specialization‎[2], New York: Peter Lang, page 29:
      Observant visitors to any prison will quickly recognize commonalties in its inmate population. Not only do shared traits exist among the inmate population of any particular institution (intra-prison commonalties) but commonalties also exist among inmates nationwide (inter-prison commonalties).

Translations

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