general-purpose

adjective

gen·​er·​al-pur·​pose ˈjen-rəl-ˈpər-pəs 

ˈje-nə-

: suitable to be used for two or more basic purposes

Synonyms of general-purpose

• unlimited
• general
• unrestricted

Examples of general-purpose in a Sentence

a general-purpose glue for routine household repairs

Recent Examples on the Web

The same results appear in head-to-head testing, where models pretrained on clinical data outperformed general-purpose ones across most healthcare workflows. — Fawad Butt, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Figure 03 is a general-purpose humanoid robot for everyday use. — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 3 Aug. 2026

That means the general-purpose microprocessor — Intel’s mainstay — is finding favor again. — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 24 July 2026

Frozen would become a more specialized branch of Google’s custom-chip portfolio rather than replace its general-purpose TPUs. — Mackenzie Sigalos, CNBC, 20 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for general-purpose

• multipurpose
• purpose