general public

American  

[jen-er-uhl puhb-lik] / ˈdʒɛn ər əl ˈpʌb lɪk /

Also the general public

noun

1. all or most people, especially those not part of a specified group; ordinary people as opposed to officials, experts, politicians, etc..

   The books have been warmly received by critics and by the general public.

   This protocol can be adopted by any organization wishing to improve workplace health and safety for employees, customers, and the general public.

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Etymology

Origin of general public

First recorded in 1845–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

general public

He had done this using Anthropic’s large language model Claude Fable 5, released to the general public only a few weeks ago.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

Because of this general messiness, it’s unclear how much the conspiracy theories actually resonate with the general public.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

That makes cutting through to the general public more challenging at a crucial time.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Two or three years after “talking pictures” were introduced to the general public in 1927, they had triumphed absolutely.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

The Nazis also bombarded the general public with propaganda to persuade them that the money spent on the care of the physically and mentally “unfit” could be put to better use.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Related Words

• association
• center
• company
• district
• nation
• neighborhood
• people
• public
• society
• state