How to use universal in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun
Universal means of or pertaining to the universe. Example: “She achieved universal fame.”
Examples of universal by meaning
adjectiveCommon to all members of a group or class.
- In Logic, the letter A is used as a symbol for the universal affirmative proposition in the general form "all x is y."1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- I had been planning every day through these years toward a universal car.1922, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, chapter 4, in My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., →OCLC
- Eventually, the railway opened on Monday, December 14, 1896, with a universal fare of 1d. collected at the turnstiles, and conditions were immediately chaotic, as many passengers travelled round and round, and refused to leave the cars.1955 January, Charles E. Lee, “The Glasgow Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 24
adjectiveCommon to all society; worldwide, global.
- She achieved universal fame.
- First there is no universal sizing system for carving tools.2026 August, Shea Alexander, “Basic Relief Carving Techniques”, in Popular Woodworking, volume 290, number 4, page 27
adjectiveUnlimited; vast; infinite.
- Playwrights have recognized the usefulness of this archetype and used him in many dramatic contexts, for the Trickster's freedom from determination gives him a universal fascination.1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review, volume 48, number...
nounA characteristic or property that particular things have in common.
- When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals.1912, Bertrand Russel, The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter 9
More sentences with universal
- In his epistemology, Plato maintains that our knowledge of universal concepts is a kind of recollection.From the entry epistemology
- The great Usonian Life, the universal life of our own true democracy.From the entry usonian
- Government officials think a universal malodor, or offensive odor, might prove effective as a non-lethal weapon.From the entry non-lethal
- In Hong Kong, proponents for universal suffrage criticize that the current electoral college responsible for electing the Chief Executive is undemocratic and unrepresentative in nature.From the entry electoral college
- Despite efforts by limnologists and freshwater biologists to create a formal definition of “pond”, there is still no universal distinction between a “pond” and a “lake”.From the entry formal
- Chomsky concluded that aspects of the grammar must be innate: the universal grammar hypothesis.2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Introduction” (chapter 1), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 20. From the entry unlearnable
- "Shrekking" may be a new addition to the modern dating lexicon, but it's long-been a universal experience.2025 August 21, Charles Trepany, “The new dating term 'Shrekking' sounds innocent. It's not what you think”, in USA Today. From the entry Shrekking
- The cognitive loopholes and biases that make us woo-prone are a human universal.2022 March 8, Laith Al-Shawaf, “Detecting Bull$%#!”, in Psychology Today. From the entry woo
- The idea of a universal human nature brings us to a third theme, humanism.2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 1: Dare to Understand!”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress…. From the entry humanism
- Fear of death is a universal human concern with which all thinking people at some point grapple.2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 173. From the entry grapple
- We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things.2017 May 25, Mark Zuckerberg, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement address at Harvard”, in The Harvard Gazette. From the entry universal basic income
- Dominguans to accept the decree, the merchants described a revolution whose logic was universal and irrefutable.2016, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Michael Drexler, The Haitian Revolution and the Early United States: Histories, Textualities, Geographies…. From the entry St. Dominguan
- But a literary novel has, somewhere, to open out into the universal.2014 April 22, Anita Mason, “Genre fiction radiates from a literary centre”, in The Guardian. From the entry genre fiction
- Generalized X-bar theoretic representations have enjoyed broad though not universal acceptance throughout the generative enterprise.2013, Marcel den Dikken, “Introduction”, in Marcel den Dikken, editor, The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax, Cambridge: Cambridge…. From the entry X-bar theoretic
- But Instagram taps a fetishization of the past that is more universal.2012 April 10, Ian Crouch, “Instagram’s Instant Nostalgia”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry tap
- The biggest impediment to universal automobile use in North Pomfret and rural Vermont was the roads.2011, Cameron Clifford, Farms, Flatlanders, and Fords: A Story of People and Place in Rural Vermont 1890-2010. From the entry automobility
- Of course, persecution of wizardkind was not universal in the Middle East back in those days.2011, J. L. Connew, Origins of the Geomancer, page 358. From the entry wizardkind
- If this is accepted without protest, then universal breedership justifies the extension of parental obligations to all.2009, Frida Simonstein, Reprogen-Ethics and the Future of Gender, page 144. From the entry breedership
- The Deutsch gate is then indeed universal within the triqubit world.2008, Zdzislaw Meglicki, Quantum Computing Without Magic: Devices, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 320. From the entry Deutsch gate
- If Alethophobia infects even one person, we can never attain universal unity.2007, Manoucher Parvin, Alethophobia: Fear of Truth : a Novel. From the entry alethophobia
- "He is tapping into universal aspects like noogies and floogies and Indian burns."2007, The Hollywood Reporter - Volume 399, page cxvi. From the entry floogy
- Is the narrativity view a profound and universal insight into the human condition?2004 January 10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian. From the entry narrativity
- Inductive extrapolation, in effect, is grounded in the contraposed universal generalisation 'where the reason, so the target.'2001, Jonardon Ganeri, Philosophy in Classical India: The Proper Work of Reason, →ISBN, page 118. From the entry contraposed
- But suppose there is a special and universal and innate language for thinking.2001, Andrew Brook, Robert J. Stainton, “Knowledge of Language”, in Knowledge and Mind: A Philosophical Introduction (A Bradford Book)…. From the entry ones and zeroes
- Han Feizi never restricts faˢᵗᵃⁿᵈᵃʳᵈˢ to either sententials or universal sententials.2000, Chad Hansen, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought, page 349. From the entry sentential
- She's looking for a universal groove, something that everyone can, somehow, in whatever small way, relate to.2000, Darren O'Donnell, Your Secrets Sleep With Me, page 58. From the entry wheels of steel
- Hubbins explains the umlaut’s universal appeal: “It’s like a pair of eyes.2000 October, Lisa Gidley, “Hell Holes”, in Scott Frampton, editor, CMJ New Music Monthly, number 86, New York, N.Y.: CMJ, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry metal umlaut
- Othala gives access to the universal folk soul and provides a sense of togetherness.1998, Silver RavenWolf, American Folk Magick: Charms, Spells & Herbals, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 232. From the entry othala
- How should we reinterpret the universal service obligation for the superhighway?1996, Richard Collins, Converging Media? Converging Regulation?, →ISBN, page 29. From the entry superhighway
- When fiction works, the individual and the universal are frictionlessly combined.1992 August 30, Martin Amis, “What He Learned in Bed”, in The New York Times. From the entry spectacularly
- The paternal signifiers of labor, alienation, and the monogendered class dynamic of historical materialism remain taken-for-granted universals.1992, Carmen Luke, “Feminist Politics in Radical Pedagogy”, in Feminisms and Critical Pedagogy, Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 30. From the entry monogendered
- The state is neither universal nor a higher stage of some sort of teleological evolutionary process.1990, Philip G. Cerny, “The Modern State at the Crossroads: Structuring the Field of Political Action”, in The Changing Architecture of…. From the entry virtuous circle
- The postulated isomorphism between words and things constitutes the characterizing feature of all philosophically based universal languages.1984, Brigitte Asbach-Schnitker, “Introduction”, in Mercury or The Secret and Swift Messenger, →ISBN. From the entry isomorphism
Meaning of universal
- adjective Of or pertaining to the universe.
- adjective Common to all members of a group or class.
- adjective Common to all society; worldwide, global.
Questions about universal in a sentence
- How do you use universal in a sentence?
- Universal is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “She achieved universal fame.”
- What is a short sentence with universal?
- “She achieved universal fame.”
- What does universal mean?
- Universal means of or pertaining to the universe.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: universal (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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