adj. & n.
adj. lacking originality; trite.
n. 1 a an everyday saying; a platitude (uttered a commonplace about the weather). b an ordinary topic of conversation. 2 anything usual or trite. 3 a notable passage in a book etc. copied into a commonplace-book. commonplace-book a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use. commonplaceness n.
[ transl. of L locus communis = Gk koinos topos general theme ]