generally

Adverb

generally (comparative more generally, superlative most generally)

1. (broadly, comparative) Popularly or widely.
   • It is generally known that the Earth is round.
   • The action he inaugurated culminated in the law for the suppression of trampage, that has accomplished such good in the Granite State, and that has been so generally copied in other states.1882, Henry Harrison Metcalf, John Norris McClintock, The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, page 382

   Synonyms:

   commonly

2. (broadly, comparative) As a rule; usually; typically; in most cases.
   • I generally have a walk in the afternoon.
   • During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
3. (broadly, comparative) Without reference to specific details.
   • Generally speaking …
   • “There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.”
     Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   generically

4. (broadly, comparative) In the general case, without exception; in all cases.
   • It is generally true that the angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees.

   Synonyms:

   always

5. (broadly, comparative, obsolete) Collectively; as a whole; without omissions.
   • I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 17:11