unˈcommon, a. (and adv.)
[un-1 7.]
1. Not possessed in common. rare—1.
| 1548 Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John xiv. 85 b, Betwene vs two is no vnlykenes, or any thyng vncommon as touchyng the hier, and our diuine nature. |
2. Not commonly (to be) met with; not of ordinary occurrence; unusual, rare.
| 1611 Cotgr., Incommune, vncommon; or, not common. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. vi. 209 'Tis so uncommon a thing to see Tulips last till Roses come to be blown. 1676 Glanvill Ess. vi. 28 To give us some general notice of those uncommon Events which they foresee. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 421 ¶2 Whatever is New or Uncommon is apt to delight the Imagination. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. §20 Nor is it an uncommon thing to behold ignorance and zeal united in men. 1770 Junius Lett. xli. (1788) 227 Yours is not an uncommon character. 1818 Byron Juan i. i, I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one. 1884 Thompson Tumours of Bladder 1 There is little doubt that these growths are by no means uncommon. |
| absol. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. II. 58 He was compelled to admit, that the uncommon is nevertheless the possible. |
3. Unusual in amount, extent, or degree; remarkably great; above the ordinary.
| 1700 Prior Carm. Sec. xxiii, She, from the noble Precipices thrown, Comes rushing with uncommon Ruin down. 1736 Berkeley Disc. Wks. III. 427 Such bad notions have..been propagated with uncommon industry in these kingdoms. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 100 Semiramis, a woman of uncommon endowments, and great personal charms. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 450 He seems to have taken uncommon pains in the execution of this work. 1864 Froude Short Stud. (1867) I. 2 He was a man of uncommon power. |
4. Of an unusual type or character; exceptional in kind or quality. Also
absol.| 1705 Addison Italy Pref., His masterly and uncommon Observations on the Religion and Governments of Italy. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. xvii. 550 We could not but value so uncommon a friend. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd iv. xvi, The Devil was no uncommon creature. 1882 W. Sharp Rossetti iii. 105 The spiritual is ever foreign to the material, the uncommon to the common. |
5. Mus. (See
quot.)
| c 1833 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) V. 778 Uncommon chord, the chord of the sixth, not so called because unusual or improper, but in contradistinction to the common chord. |
6. As
adv. = uncommonly adv. 2.
colloq. or
dial.| 1784 New Spectator No. 15. 1 To hear another of austere gravity, burst into an uncommon loud fit of laughter at a trifling incident. 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 190 He was uncommon afraid of the custom-house officers. 1851 Kingsley Yeast ix, He consorts with them poachers, sir, uncommon. I hope he ben't one himself. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley i, They're an uncommon thirsty lot to-night. |