dual-purpose

[doo-uhl-pur-puhs, dyoo-]

adjective

1. serving two functions.

   a dual-purpose database for research and teaching.

2. (of cattle) bred for two purposes, as to provide beef and milk.

dual-purpose

adjective

1. having or serving two functions

Word History and Origins

Origin of dual-purpose¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

The dual-purpose nature of the industrial base means that the American consumer funds the Chinese war fighter.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They include military parades by the Russian settlement to mark their commemorations for the end of World War Two, the flying of a Soviet flag over Russian infrastructure, and growing suspicion that the Chinese have made their Svalbard research station dual-purpose - for military espionage.

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Also to the Jeep’s advantage is its dual-purpose nature; it’s equally at home on paved surfaces or when venturing off-road.

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With an efficiency apartment, the rooms are created by walls and there is very little opportunity to make a dual-purpose room out of any of the space in an efficiency apartment.

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The projectiles being sent to Ukraine are commonly referred to by the name given to those small grenades: dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, or D.P.I.C.M. — and pronounced by some officials as dee-PICK-’ems.

Read more on New York Times