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general-purpose

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

adjective

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

    a good general-purpose dictionary.


general-purpose British  

adjective

  1. 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

Systems designed for clinical care can be safer and more effective than general-purpose chatbots, proponents say.

From The Wall Street Journal

But advances in batteries, motors and artificial intelligence have spawned a new generation: general-purpose robots that can walk around a plant and perform multiple jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal

In December, the Silicon Valley giant bought another AI firm called Manus, a Chinese-founded company that builds general-purpose bots.

From BBC

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