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

However, the robots on display in the World Humanoid Robot Games are still very far from general-purpose autonomous robots capable of handling practically any task. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 25 Aug. 2026

Amazon still sells it as a general-purpose category covering servers, containers and serverless code. — Robert J. Szczerba, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026

Brain cells at work Traditional data centers rely on silicon processors and general-purpose Central Processing Units (CPUs). — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 21 Aug. 2026

By 1981 its first chip fabrication plant was up and running there, pumping out general-purpose memory chips known as DRAM. — Cj Haddad,katie Tarasov, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for general-purpose

• multipurpose
• purpose