generic
Syllables: ge·ner·ic/dʒɪˈnɛɹ.ɪk/
generic adjective: very broad; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific instances.
Adjective
generic (comparative more generic, superlative most generic)
- Very broad; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific instances.
- Capri pants can be a generic term for any cropped slim pants.
- […] the essence is that such self-describing poets describe what is in them, but not peculiar to them, – what is generic, not what is special and individual.1864, Walter Bagehot, “Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning; or, Pure, Ornate, and Grotesque Art in English Poetry”, in The National Review, volume 19
- Synonyms:
- broad
- Antonyms:
- specific, instantial
- Lacking in precision, often in an evasive fashion; vague; imprecise.
- Having in mind Marx's conception of reason as a practical organ of collective existence, and of the object as something defined though not objectivized by reason, we may describe his epistemology as one of generic subjectivism.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in...
- Of a product or drug, not having a brand name; nonproprietary in design or contents; fungible with the rest of its class.
- The four-and-one-half-day trial was centered on acts that neither she nor prosecutors dispute: On July 13, 2012, she drove her Lexus S.U.V. erratically after swallowing Zolpidem, a generic form of the sleep medication Ambien.2014 February 28, Joseph Berger, “Fast Acquittal for Kennedy, Whose Name Put Prosecutors in Bind”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2022
- Pertaining to genera of life instead of particular species thereof.
- Holonym: familial
- Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific, specific
- Specifying neither masculine nor feminine; epicene; unisex.
- Words like salesperson and firefighter are generic.
- This included criticism of the generic use of man to include men and women.
- Of a procedure, written so as to operate on any data type, the type required being passed as a parameter.
- Of a point, having coordinates that are algebraically independent over the base field.
- Relating to genre.
- Both [films] test formal and generic boundaries.2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 47
- Having no distinguishing characteristics; unoriginal.
- That movie was so generic; it was such a bore!
Noun
generic (plural generics)
- A product sold under a generic name.
- A wine that is a combination of several wines, or made from a combination of several grape varieties.
- A term that specifies neither male nor female.
- […]a male-centered perspective[…]has resulted in false generics in everyday life[…]1998, Jacqueline A. Dienemann, Nursing administration: managing patient care
- The part of a toponym that identifies the feature's type.
- Where the generic of an English-language place name has been translated into French, it is essential to restore it to its original English form when translating the French document into English.2024 July 29, “geographical names: translation”, in Writing Tips Plus, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, retrieved 09 Nov 2024
- Antonyms:
- specific
generic meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
generic in Tamil
- ஜீன் பண்பு, பரம்பரவியலினால்
generic in Bengali
- জাতিবাচক, বর্গীয়, গণীভূত, জাতিগত
generic in Telugu
- జెనెరిక్
generic in Malayalam
- common, general, collective
- മൂല, ജാതി, വർഗ്ഗ, പൊതു, പൊതുവായ, ജാതിവിഷയകമായ
- unbranded, non-proprietary
- വാണിജ്യമുദ്രയില്ലാത്ത, ട്രേഡ്മാർക്കില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- generic in Kannada
- ಜಾತಿ ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟವಾದ, ಜಾತಿವಾಚಕ, ಜಾತ್ಯನ್ವಯದ, ಒಟ್ಟು ಒಂದು ವರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ
- generic in Gujarati
- જેનરિક
- generic in Odia
- ଜେନେରିକ୍
- generic in Sanskrit
- सामान्य sāmānya, साधारण sā́dhāraṇa
- generic in Nepali
- जेनेरिक, जेनरिक
- generic in Arabic
- إِجْمالِيّ ʔijmāliyy, جامِع jāmiʕ, شامِل šāmil, شُمُولِيّ šumūliyy
- generic in Indonesian
- generik
- generic in Persian
- همگانیک
Examples of generic in a sentence
- The revenues from both brand-name drugs and generic drugs have increased.
- Its generic name is Staphylococcus, but you may know it better by the common name staph.
- Its generic name is rosuvastatin, but you may know it better by the proprietary name Crestor.
Synonyms of generic
6 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of generic
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more generic |
| superlative | most generic |
| alternative form (obsolete) | generick |
| Noun | |
| plural | generics |
Origin of generic
From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic.
Words formed from generic
- bigeneric
- biogeneric
- cogeneric
- extrageneric
- Generica
- generically
- generic class
- generic element
- generic epithet
- generic function
- genericide
- generic interval
- genericise
- genericism
- genericity
- genericization
- genericize
- generic masculine
- generic name
- genericness
- generic platformer
- generic programming
- generic property
- generic term
- generic they
- generic top-level domain
- generic type
- generic you
- generify
- heterogeneric
- infrageneric
- intergeneric
- intrageneric
- monogeneric
- multigeneric
- nongeneric
- nongenerically
- nongenericness
- polygeneric
- pseudogeneric
- quadrigeneric
- semigeneric
- subgeneric
- supergeneric
- suprageneric
- trigeneric
- unigeneric
Phrases with generic
Words that rhyme with generic
- berwick
- exoteric
- atmospheric
- derrick
- esoteric
- alphanumeric
- cleric
- Derek
- ferric
- numeric
- spheric
- stratospheric
12 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about generic
- What does generic mean?
- Generic means very broad; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific instances.
- What is generic in Tamil?
- Generic in Tamil is ஜீன் பண்பு, பரம்பரவியலினால். See Generic meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is generic?
- Generic can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce generic?
- Generic is pronounced /dʒɪˈnɛɹ.ɪk/.
Words near generic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: generic (page history and authors); generic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); generic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); generic (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); generic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); generic (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); generic (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); generic (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); साधारण (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); generic (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-generic.ogg.
Cite this entry: “generic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/generic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.