Meaning & use
common language
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Meanings
nouncountable
A language that two or more groups or people can all speak and use to communicate with one another.
Grammar: Usually singular with an or the: a common language, the common language.
Patterns
- share a common language
- use a common language
- a common language between people
English is often the common language at international conferences.
The two travelers had no common language, so they used gestures.
Spanish served as the common language among the students from different countries.
nounusually singularfigurative
A shared way of understanding or talking about something that lets people agree and cooperate.
Grammar: Often used figuratively with find or speak: find a common language.
Patterns
- find a common language
- speak a common language
After weeks of arguing, the neighbors finally found a common language.
Music gave the two teams a common language beyond words.
Doctors and engineers need a common language to work together on medical devices.
Word forms
| plural | common languages |
|---|
Common combinations
- share a common language
- The colleagues share a common language even though they come from different countries.
- find a common language
- It took time, but the two sides found a common language.
- lack a common language
- The workers lacked a common language, which caused misunderstandings.
- speak a common language
- Scientists everywhere speak a common language of mathematics.
- use English as a common language
- The team uses English as a common language for meetings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lingua franca
- Lingua franca is more formal and specifically names a bridge language used between speakers of different mother tongues.
- shared language
- Shared language is a plain alternative but has less of a fixed, set-phrase feel.
- mutual understanding
- Mutual understanding refers only to the agreement reached, not to an actual language or way of speaking.
Opposites
Word family
- common adjective
- shared by many or all
- commonly adverb
- frequently or usually
- language noun
- a system of communication using words
- linguistic adjective
- relating to language
Commonly confused: common language or native language?
common language vs native language
A native language is the one a person learned as a child, while a common language is one shared by a group, whether or not it is native.
Practice
The two engineers had different mother tongues, but English was their ______, so they could work together easily.
Choose one answer.
A common language is one both people share. Native language does not fit because it is not the mother tongue of both, and a dead language is no longer spoken.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “common language”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.