commonplaces
Overused familiar expressions
Commonplaces are remarks or ideas so familiar they lack originality—observations everyone has heard before: His speech was full of commonplaces about hard work and perseverance.
The word can also refer to ordinary things or everyday occurrences: Smartphones have become commonplaces of modern life.
What was once striking becomes commonplace through repetition.
Overused expressions lacking originality
- platitudesTrite moral remarks
- truismsSelf-evident statements
- banalitiesOverused, unoriginal remarks
- bromidesOverused trite expressions
chestnuts · tropes · sayings · adages · proverbs · maxims · aphorisms · axioms
Oversimplified beliefs about groups
- conventionsAccepted social practices
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- dogmasAuthoritative established beliefs
- assumptionsUnproven things taken as true
presuppositions · tenets · precepts · conventional wisdom · popular opinion · folk wisdom
clichés
Overused expressions lacking originality
- platitudesTrite moral remarks
- truismsSelf-evident statements
- banalitiesOverused, unoriginal remarks
bromides · chestnuts · tropes · sayings · adages · proverbs · maxims · aphorisms · axioms · dictums
stereotypes
Oversimplified beliefs about groups
- conventionsAccepted social practices
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- dogmasAuthoritative established beliefs
assumptions · presuppositions · tenets · precepts · conventional wisdom · popular opinion · folk wisdom
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- Roman rhetoricoratory, Cicero, eloquence, rhetoric, rostra
commonplacesinnovations
New methods or devices
breakthroughs · epiphanies · inventions · discoveries · novelties
commonplacesrevelations
Surprising facts made known
profundities · rarities · curiosities · anomalies · wonders
commonplacesprofundities
Matters of great depth
wisdom · philosophical insights · brilliances · enlightenments · paradoxes
- commonplace bookCurated collection of extracts