general

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   prevailing among and common to the general public

   the general discontent

2. 2
   adj

   not specialized or limited to one class of things

   general studies

3. 3
   adj

   applying to all or most members of a category or group

   the general public

4. 4
   adj

   affecting the entire body

   a general anesthetic

5. 5
   adj

   somewhat indefinite

   bearing a general resemblance to the original

6. 6
   noun

   a fact about the whole, as opposed to particular

   You discussed the general, but neglected the particular.

7. 7
   verb

   command as a general

   We are generaled by an incompetent!

8. 8
   adj

   Including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole, etc.; common to all, universal.

   It is generall / To be mortall: / I haue well espyde / No man may hym hyde / From Deth holow eyed […].

Etymology

From Middle English general, in turn from Anglo-Norman general, generall, Middle French general, and their source, Latin generālis, from genus (“class, kind”) + -ālis (“-al”); thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, generic.