general-purpose

American  

[jen-er-uhl-pur-puhs] / ˈdʒɛn ər əlˈpɜr pəs /

adjective

1. useful in many ways; not limited in use or function.

   a good general-purpose dictionary.

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general-purpose British  

adjective

1. having a range of uses or applications; not restricted to one function

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Etymology

Origin of general-purpose

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Systems designed for clinical care can be safer and more effective than general-purpose chatbots, proponents say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

In December, the Silicon Valley giant bought another AI firm called Manus, a Chinese-founded company that builds general-purpose bots.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

The Moltbook acquisition follows the company’s $2 billion acquisition in December of Manus AI, a Singapore-based startup specializing in general-purpose agents.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 10, 2026

If human intelligence depends on system-level organization rather than a single general-purpose mechanism, then building artificial general intelligence may require more than simply scaling up specialized tools.

From Science Daily • Mar. 3, 2026

This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of by Higgs.

From Queen Sheba's Ring by Haggard, Henry Rider