common man
Ordinary working person
The common man is the ordinary person—someone without special rank, wealth, or distinction.
The phrase evokes democratic ideals of everyday citizens whose concerns should matter in politics and culture: a candidate who speaks for the common man.
It carries slightly old-fashioned overtones; ordinary people or average person now sounds more natural in most contexts.
- everymanOrdinary representative person
- peasantLow-status agricultural laborer
- John Q. PublicHypothetical average citizen
- plebeianOrdinary, unrefined person
- average JoeUnremarkable common person
Joe Sixpack · Jane Doe · plain folks · proletariat · grassroots · blue-collar · folk hero · egalitarianism · working-class hero · ordinary · serf · labor rights · typical · beggar · poor · populism · protest songs · neighbor
- Everymanaverage Joe, everyman, regular Joe, regular guy, Joe Blow
- menguys, male, blokes, guy, chaps
- populacethe masses, ordinary people, general public, hoi polloi, everyman
- commonerscommoners, peasant, peasants, serfs, serf
- Jacksonian EraAndrew Jackson, Democratic Party, spoils system, Indian Removal Act, Trail of Tears
- populismpopulism, demagogue, demagoguery, anti-elitism, anti-establishment
common manaristocrat
Person of noble birth
nobleman · elite · aristocracy · nobility · upper class
man, common, uncommon, commons, uncommonly, commoner, commonality, commonness, commonest