general-purpose

American

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

adjective

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

a good general-purpose dictionary.

general-purpose British

adjective

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of general-purpose

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Cloudflare, SAP, and two other companies also signed on as customers for general-purpose CPU applications.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 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

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

The firm’s general-purpose humanoid, called AlphaBot, is currently used in factories including LCD television panel maker HKC.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

They are far less popular in America, even as meat-producers, than the general-purpose breeds.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023