gebräuchlicher

Gebräuchlicher is the comparative form of the German adjective gebräuchlich, meaning customary, conventional, or commonly used. It is used to indicate that something is more typical in use or more widespread than another thing.

The form is created by adding the ending -er to the base adjective, preserving the umlaut in the stem (gebräuchlich → gebräuchlicher). Like other adjectives in German, gebräuchlich can be inflected for gender, number, and case when it accompanies a noun, and gebräuchlicher is used in comparative clauses or phrases such as "gebräuchlicher als" or in predicative positions like "ist gebräuchlicher."

Usage and nuance: gebräuchlicher denotes a higher degree of conventionality or frequency of use than another option. For example, "Dieses Verfahren ist gebräuchlicher als jenes" compares two methods in terms of how widely they are used. In attributive use before a noun, the adjective will take the appropriate ending, as in "eine gebräuchlichere Praxis" for the feminine singular comparative.

Relation to related terms: gebräuchlich is close in meaning to üblich and allgemein verbreitet, though gebräuchlich emphasizes convention within a community, field, or context. The noun form Gebräuchlichkeit refers to the overall degree of commonness or frequency of use, and is used when discussing usage patterns or linguistic descriptives.

See also: Gebräuchlichkeit, Gebrauchs (use), gebräuchliche Redewendungen.