- universal
- universal 1 Universal, cosmic, ecumenical, catholic, cosmopolitan can all mean worldwide or at least extremely widespread (as in extent, range, influence, appeal, or use).Universal is likely to suggest what is worldwide rather than pertinent to or characteristic of the whole universe; it is often further narrowed to refer to the world of men and human affairs or to important or significant parts of this world. It is likely to indicate a unanimity or conformity of practice or belief or a broad comprehensiveness{
no other theory which has won universal acceptance— Binyon
}{the universal favor with which the New Testament is outwardly received— Thoreau
}{replaced a philosophy which was crude and raw and provincial by one which was, in comparison, catholic, civilized, and universal— T. S. Eliot
}Cosmic is used to suggest matters pertinent to the whole universe as opposed to the earth, especially in suggestions of infinite vastness, distance, or force{sardonic phantoms, whose vision is çosmic, not terrestrial— Lowes
}{the great cosmic rhythm of the spirit which sets the currents of life in motion— Binyon
}Ecumenical applies to situations involving people throughout the whole world or all people in groups or divisions as indicated, often in religious contexts{the incorporation of all the broken fragments of the former lranic and Arabic societies into the wholly different structure of a Western World which has grown into an ecumenical "Great Society"— Toynbee
}Catholic may stress an attitude involved, as well as a fact, in the including, comprehending, or appreciating of all or many peoples, places, or periods{he was a catholic nature lover. The tropics, the desert, the tundra, the glaciers and the prairies all found a place in his heart— Peattie
}Cosmopolitan may imply an understanding and appreciation of other lands, sections, nations, or cities coming about through personal experience in traveling or living elsewhere; it often contrasts with provincial{one of the most entertaining and most cosmopolitan of novelists. Born in Tuscany, he was educated in New England, England, Germany, and Italy, became interested in Sanskrit, edited a newspaper in India— Van Doren
}2 Universal, general, generic, common are comparable when they mean characteristic of, belonging or relating to, comprehending, or affecting all or the whole.Universal as used chiefly in logic and philosophy implies reference to each one of a whole (as a class, a category, or a genus) without exception; thus, "all men are animals" is a universal affirmative proposition, and "no man is omniscient" is a universal negative proposition; color is a universal attribute of visible objects, but chroma is not{prolongation of the . . . war, with its increasing danger of universal catastrophe— Science
}{habits both universal among mankind and peculiar to individuals— Allport
}{if we want to get at the permanent and universal we tend to express ourselves in verse— T. S. Eliot
}General can imply reference to all, either of a precisely definable group (as a class, type, or species){ladies, a general welcome from his grace salutes ye all— Shak.
}{these first assemblies were general, with all freemen bound to attend— Amer. Guide Series: Md.
}or of a more or less loosely or casually combined or associated number of items. In contrast to universal, general tends to be used with less precise boundaries and often implies no more than reference to nearly all or to most of the group{ethylene has come into general but not yet universal favor with surgeons— Morrison
}{the ideal of general cultivation has been one of the standards in education— Eliot
}But when used with respect to words, language, ideas, or notions, general tends to suggest lack of precision in use or signification{some rather weak cases must fall within any law which is couched in general words— Justice Holmes
}Generic is often used in place of general when a term implying reference to every member of a genus or often of a clearly defined scientific or logical category and the exclusion of all other individuals is needed; thus, a general likeness between two insects may be a likeness that is merely observable, whereas a generic likeness is one that offers proof that they belong to the same genus or that enables a student to assign a hitherto unknown insect to its proper category; the use of words is a general characteristic of writing but the use of meter is a generic characteristic of poetry{there is no such thing as a generic "Asian mind"— R. A. Smith
}{the novel has always had a generic habit of reaching out to the extremes of literary expression— Schorer
}{absolute generic unity would obtain if there were one summum genus under which all things without exception could be eventually subsumed— James
}Common (see also COMMON 3; RECIPROCAL 1) differs from general in implying participation, use, or a sharing by all members of the class, group, or community of persons or, less often, of things under consideration{a thing . . . practiced for two hundred years by common consent— Justice Holmes
}{crowds . . . swept along by a common animating impulse— Binyon
}{our common tongue— Lowes
}Antonyms: particular
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
