general
applying to all or most members of a category or group
How often you will meet it
Rank 438 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 46,221 times across 175,177 chapters — 0.022% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- applying to all or most members of a category or group the general publicgeneral assistance
- not specialized or limited to one class of things general studiesgeneral knowledge
- prevailing among and common to the general public the general discontent
- affecting the entire body a general anestheticgeneral symptoms
- somewhat indefinite bearing a general resemblance to the originala general description of the merchandise
- of worldwide scope or applicability also: cosmopolitan, ecumenical, oecumenical, universal, worldwide, world-wide an issue of cosmopolitan importthe shrewdest political and ecumenical comment of our time
noun
- a general officer of the highest rank also: full general
- the head of a religious order or congregation also: superior general
general in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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At the last General Meeting of the L.C.
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1
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I propose some day next week to commence a general fusilade from the windows of my office upon the passers-by.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 08, May 21, 1870 · Various · Chapter 1
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General Grant was looking exactly as he had looked upon that trying occasion of ten years before--all iron and bronze self-possession.
Following the Equator — Part 1 · Mark Twain · Chapter 1
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Lieutenant General Sherman was to have been of the party also, but the Indian war compelled his presence on the plains.
The Innocents Abroad — Volume 01 · Mark Twain · Chapter 1
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They were simply the safety-valves to his superabundant ire, and, like safety-valves in general, made much noise but did no damage.
Snowflakes and Sunbeams · R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne · Chapter 1