general-purpose
adjective
gen·er·al-pur·pose
ˈjen-rəl-ˈpər-pəs 
ˈje-nə-
: suitable to be used for two or more basic purposes
Examples of general-purpose in a Sentence
a general-purpose glue for routine household repairs
Recent Examples on the Web
The Fed should not act as some general-purpose agency of the US government or as an appellate court for matters that are rightly debated and decided elsewhere.
—
Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026
These fertilizers are lower in nitrogen (the first number) compared to general-purpose fertilizers and are designed to help plants to bloom better.
—Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Apr. 2026
Scaling teleoperation alone to the level needed for general-purpose embodied intelligence is prohibitively expensive.
—Ni Tao, Interesting Engineering, 20 Apr. 2026
For example, a development team working with general-purpose base images may find that those images include packages that are not needed in production.
—Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for general-purpose
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Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026
These fertilizers are lower in nitrogen (the first number) compared to general-purpose fertilizers and are designed to help plants to bloom better.
—Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Apr. 2026
Scaling teleoperation alone to the level needed for general-purpose embodied intelligence is prohibitively expensive.
—Ni Tao, Interesting Engineering, 20 Apr. 2026
For example, a development team working with general-purpose base images may find that those images include packages that are not needed in production.
—Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for general-purpose
Cite this Entry
“General-purpose.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/general-purpose. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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