- 1通用的、多用途的
General-purpose means a thing is made to work in most situations, not for one special job only. A general-purpose knife, computer, or room can do many kinds of work well enough. It is a quiet, practical word — shops, manuals, and offices use it a lot. The opposite idea is special-purpose or purpose-built: made for one job, and often better at that one job. Though actually, ‘general-purpose’ does not mean ‘best at everything’. It means ‘good enough for a wide range of uses’. A general-purpose tool may lose to a specialist tool when the job is narrow and hard. In writing, the is the usual form: general-purpose.
general-purpose 形容東西是設計成在大多數情況下都能用，不是只為一種特殊工作。像「a general-purpose knife」（萬用刀），就能把很多種工作做得夠好。這是安靜、務實的字，常出現在店家、說明書和辦公室裡。它的反義概念是專用，也就是只為一件事設計，通常在那件事上更強。
要注意它不是「樣樣最好」，而是「對很多用途都夠好」。碰到範圍窄又難的工作，通用工具可能還是輸給專用工具。寫的時候通常加連字號，寫成 general-purpose。
組成general (for most things, not one special case) + purpose (the job it is for).
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
general-purposeadj
- 1
For general purposes; all-purpose.
- It is a general-purpose type, with weight and clearances sufficiently restricted to enable it to have a considerably wider radius of action than the "V2" 2-6-2s and "K3" 2-6-0s, but at the same time, with the help of a working pressure of 225 lb. per sq. in., of considerable power.
- The omni-tool itself is a combination computer and general-purpose engineering device that fabricates tools and equipment as needed. It acts as a translator, computer, holographic recorder and player, full translation software, and can create lockpicks and any other equipment needed to use a character's skills. An omni-tool can be upgraded with a number of options.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。