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# uncommon

«uncommon» in Mova's school dictionary: **not happening or seen often; rare or unusual** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (uncommon); adverb form: uncommonly

### meaning for a pupil

1) Uncommon means not happening or seen often; rare or unusual. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#m1)

2) (old-fashioned) Uncommon can mean remarkable or very great, like «an uncommon talent». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science: uncommon animals, plants or diseases; in maths, uncommon events have a low probability. In everyday talk: «it's not uncommon» means it happens quite often. In stories it marks something special or surprising.

### examples

- Snow is uncommon in Sydney. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x1)
- It is not uncommon to feel nervous before a test. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x2)
- The uncommon bird was spotted by only a few people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x3)
- Twins are less common than single babies, but not very uncommon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x4)
- She has an uncommon gift for music. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x5)
- An uncommon name can be hard to spell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x6)
- He opened one and found a very uncommon herb in it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/#x7)

### note

Opposite: «common». «Not uncommon» is a double negative meaning «fairly common». In maths, an uncommon event is unlikely, but it can still happen. Comparatives: «more uncommon», «most uncommon».

### In the corpora

- [The Mock Turtle says it «sounds uncommon nonsense» (uncommon = very, in old country talk).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/20-alice-the-lobster-quadrille-2/19/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «uncommon» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/uncommon/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.