general

Syllables: gene·ralUK/ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈd͡ʒen.(ə.)ɹəl/

general adjective: including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole, etc.; common to all, universal. Also the abbreviation of general servant.

Adjective

general (comparative more general, superlative most general)

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 […].c. 1495, John Skelton, "Vppon a deedman's hed"
- "Among us!" was the general shout, and Peppersorn sat frozen to his chair.1842, Douglas Jerrold, “Mr Peppersorn ‘At Home’”, in Cakes and Ale
Synonyms:

common, universal, catholic, ecumenical, generic, nonsingular, nonspecific, unparticular, unsingular, unspecific

Antonyms:

specific, special, particular, concrete, discrete, individual, peculiar, proper, singular
(postpositional, sometimes) Applied to a person (as a postmodifier or a normal preceding adjective) to indicate supreme rank, in civil or military titles, and later in other terms; pre-eminent.
- For these successes he obtained the rank of Field-Marshal General.1865, Edward Cust, Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years War, page 527
- He becomes the chief chartered libertine, the whoremaster-general flourishing his "standard" over a female army […].2002, James Turner, Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London, page 122
Prevalent or widespread among a given class or area; common, usual.
- ‘I can't quite afford you the sympathy you expect upon this score,’ I replied; ‘the misfortune is so general, that it belongs to one half of the species […].’1817, Sir Walter Scott, chapter IX, in Rob Roy
- The general opinion on Baz Luhrmann's overstuffed epic Australia seems to be that it throws in everything but the kitchen sink, and then tosses that in too, just to be sure.2008 December 20, John Patterson, “Home movies”, in The Guardian
Synonyms:

typical, usual, common, average, basic, bog-standard, common as bums, common as dirt, common as muck, common as pig tracks

Antonyms:

abnormal, uncommon
Not limited in use or application; applicable across a broad range.
- M. Venizelos went to Athens from Paris early last January in response to a general invitation from the Greek populace.1924 March 17, Time
- Already in the primary school work is conducted for the purpose of equipping the pupils with those elements of general knowledge which are closely related to the military preparation of future warriors.1947 October 20, “Russian Catechism”, in Time
Synonyms:

broad, generic, catholic, common, ecumenical, nonsingular, nonspecific, universal, unparticular, unsingular
Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite.
- As she thus spoke, the entrance of the servants with dinner cut off all conversation but that of a general nature.1817, Sir Walter Scott, chapter X, in Rob Roy
- There was a moment's pause. The Princess broke in with some casual remark and once more the conversation became general.1941, W Somerset Maugham, Up at the Villa, Vintage, published 2004, page 24
Not of a specific class; miscellaneous.
- general goods
- His measured, springless walk was the walk of the skilled countryman as distinct from the desultory shamble of the general labourer […].2007, Alan Cheuse, “A Little Death”, in Southern Review, volume 43, number 3, page 692

Noun (1)

general (countable and uncountable, plural generals)

The holder of a senior military title, originally designating the commander of an army and now a specific rank falling under field marshal (in the British army) and below general of the army or general of the air force in the US army and air forces.
- General Eisenhower was the first SACEUR.
A great strategist or tactician.
- Hannibal was one of the greatest generals of the ancient world.
(archaic) A general fact or proposition; a generality.
- We have dealt with the generals; now let us turn to the particulars.
The head of certain religious orders, especially Dominicans or Jesuits.
The equivalent of a king in Chinese chess, the xiangqi piece that is confined to the palace, moves orthogonally one point at a time, and whose loss decides the game.
(obsolete) Synonym of admiral, a senior naval title, a great naval strategist or tactician.

Synonyms:

admiral

Verb

general (third-person singular simple present generals, present participle (US) generaling or (UK) generalling, simple past and past participle (US) generaled or (UK) generalled)

To lead (soldiers) as a general.
- Generalled by Mrs. Hauksbee, who, again, had all Mrs. Mallowe's wisdom at her disposal, proud of himself and, in the end, believing in himself because he was believed in, Otis Yeere stood ready for any fortune that might befall, certain that it would be good.1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 38

Adverb

general (not comparable)

(obsolete) In a general or collective manner or sense; in most cases; upon the whole.

Noun (2) capitalized: General

General (plural Generals)

Alternative letter-case form of general in its various senses.
- You're going to have to tell that to the president yourself, General.
The title used by a military general, flag rank officer of the military
- General Polk stated, with all respect to General Bragg’s great abilities in the direction of organization and discipline, that he had been wanting in the higher elements of generalship in the conduct of the campaign; and that, in view of the admitted possibilities of the campaign, he considered it...1893, William M[ecklenburg] Polk, “The Kentucky Campaign”, in Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co. and New York: […], page 158
- The rally was organised to protest against the removal of a statue of General Lee, who commanded the pro-slavery Confederate forces during the American Civil War.2017 August 23, “ESPN reassigns commentator Robert Lee over 'name coincidence'”, in BBC, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2025

Proper noun capitalized: General

General

(abbreviation, ellipsis, informal) Ellipsis of General Hospital.
- The ambulance is taking him to General.
  Owerri West General Hospital or Owerri North? Obinze is still in charge of West General. If it's that one, turn it around now.

Also used as

general is also the abbreviation of general servant.

general is also the abbreviation of general election.

general is also the abbreviation of general anesthetic.

general is also the abbreviation of general anesthesia.

general is also the abbreviation of general insurance.

general meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Tagalog and Arabic

general in Hindi

involving every part or member, not specific or particular: साधारण sādhāraṇ
widespread, common: सामान्य sāmānya
not limited in application; applicable to a whole class or category: सामान्य sāmānya
military rank: सेनापति senāpti, सेनाध्यक्ष senādhyakṣ

general in Marathi

involving every part or member, not specific or particular: साधारण sādhāraṇ
widespread, common: साधारण sādhāraṇ
military rank: सेनापती senāptī, जनरल janral

general in Tagalog

involving every part or member, not specific or particular: pangkalahatán
of a person: pre-eminent: heneral
military rank: heneral

general in Arabic

involving every part or member, not specific or particular: عَامّ ʕāmm
not limited in application; applicable to a whole class or category: عُمُومِيّ ʕumūmiyy, عَامّ ʕāmm
military rank: جِنِرال jinirāl, فريق أوّل farīq ʔawwal

More languagesFewer languages

general in Malay: umum, am, awam, jeneral
general in Indonesian: umum, menyeluruh, jenderal
general in Persian: ژنرال ženerâl
general in Thai: พลเอก pon-èek
general in Vietnamese: tướng quân, tướng
general in Myanmar: အထွေထွေ a.htwehtwe, ဗိုလ်ချုပ်ကြီး builhkyupkri:
Kashmiri: جَرنٲل jarnạ̄l

Examples of general in a sentence

Undoubtedly the age of the Antonines was much better than any later age until the Renaissance, from the point of view of the general happiness.1946, Bertrand Russell, “Stoicism”, in History of Western Philosophy, book 1, part 3:
One advantage of having profitable companies in Britain is that they pay large sums in corporate tax into the Exchequer, which in theory at least is used for the general good.2006 October 15, Ruth Sutherland, “Invite public to the private equity party”, in The Observer:
Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a general term indicating a rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) coming from the top chambers of the heart - in essence, above (supra) the lower chamber (ventricular).2009, Douglas P. Zipes, Saturday Evening Post, volume 281, number 1, page 20:
Given the scarcity of relevant historical detail in the New Testament, we are left with only a general outline about Joseph.2008, Robert P. Maloney, “The Quiet Carpenter”, in America, volume 199, number 19, page 18:

All 40 example sentences with general

Synonyms of general

26 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

1 more antonymsFewer antonyms

peculiar

All synonyms and antonyms of general

Forms of general

Adjective
comparative	more general
superlative	most general
alternative form	General
alternative form	gen.
alternative form	gen
alternative form	Gen.
alternative form	Gen
alternative form	genl
alternative form	gen'l
alternative form	Genl
alternative form	Gen'l
alternative form (obsolete)	generall
Noun
plural	generals
plural	Generals
Verb
third-person singular present	generals
present participle US	generaling
present participle UK	generalling
past participle US	generaled
past US	generaled
past participle UK	generalled

Plural of general: generals

Origin of general

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”).

Words formed from general

Phrases with general

142 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about general

What does general mean?: General means including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole, etc.; common to all, universal.
What is general in Hindi?: General in Hindi is साधारण (sādhāraṇ), सामान्य (sāmānya), सेनापति (senāpti). See General meaning in Hindi.
How do you use general in a sentence?: Undoubtedly the age of the Antonines was much better than any later age until the Renaissance, from the point of view of the general happiness.
What part of speech is general?: General can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or an adverb.
How do you pronounce general?: General is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹəl/ (UK).

Words near general in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: general (page history and authors); General (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-general.ogg.

Cite this entry: “general.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/general. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.