universal

From Middle English universal, from Old French universal (modern French universel), from Latin ūniversālis, equivalent to universe +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/

• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)səl
• Hyphenation: uni‧vers‧al

universal (comparative more universal, superlative most universal)

1. Of or pertaining to the universe.
2. Common to all members of a group or class.
   • 1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

     In Logic, the letter A is used as a symbol for the universal affirmative proposition in the general form "all x is y."

   • 1922, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, chapter 4, in My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., →OCLC:

     I had been planning every day through these years toward a universal car.

   • 1955 January, Charles E. Lee, “The Glasgow Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 24:

     Eventually, the railway opened on Monday, December 14, 1896, with a universal fare of 1d. collected at the turnstiles, and conditions were immediately chaotic, as many passengers travelled round and round, and refused to leave the cars.

   • 2022 January 30, Steve Slevinski, “Formal SignWriting”, in IETF‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 April 2024:

     Sutton SignWriting is the universal and complete solution for written sign language, ISO 15924 script code "Sgnw".

3. Common to all society; worldwide.

   She achieved universal fame.

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Life of John Dryden, Esq.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page xiii:

     [John] Dryden's univerſal genius, his firmly eſtablished reputation, and the glory his memory muſt always reflect upon the nation that gave him birth, make us ardently wiſh for a more accurate life of him than any which has hitherto appeared: […]

4. Unlimited; vast; infinite.
   • 1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review‎^[2], volume 48, number 5, page 670a of 668–680:

     Playwrights have recognized the usefulness of this archetype and used him in many dramatic contexts, for the Trickster's freedom from determination gives him a universal fascination.

5. Useful for many purposes; all-purpose.

   universal wrench

• (common to all members of a group or class): general; see also Thesaurus:generic
• (unlimited): see also Thesaurus:infinite
• (useful for many purposes): general-purpose, multi-purpose

• nonuniversal

• universe
• university
• universality

• general
• global

universal (plural universals)

1. (philosophy) A characteristic or property that particular things have in common.
   • 1912, Bertrand Russel, The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter 9:

     When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals.

   • 1970, John R. Searle, Speech acts‎^[3]:

     We might also distinguish those expressions which are used to refer to individuals or particulars from those which are used to refer to what philosophers have called universals: e.g., to distinguish such expressions as "Everest" and "this chair" from "the number three", "the color red" and "drunkenness".

   • 2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chapter 11, in God, Human, Animal, Machine […] , →ISBN:

     Empiricism was similarly a response to this loss of universals—a radically contingent world with no underlying order must constantly be studied and tested—and made God himself unnecessary: divine spirit and human spirit were alien enough to each other that they could function without taking each other into account.

• “universal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “universal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• S:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Universals
• The Medieval Problem of Universals - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Borrowed from Latin ūniversālis. First attested in c. 1400.^[1]

• IPA^(key): (Central) [u.ni.βərˈsal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [u.ni.vərˈsal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [u.ni.veɾˈsal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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• IPA^(key): (Central) [u.ni.βərˈzal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [u.ni.vərˈzal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [u.ni.veɾˈzal]

universal m or f (masculine and feminine plural universals)

1. universal

• universalment

• univers
• universalitat

• “universal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “universal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “universal”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

universal

1. universal

• “universal”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

universal

1. alternative spelling of universel

• “universal” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Latin ūniversālis.

• IPA^(key): /unibeɾˈsal/ [u.ni.β̞eɾˈs̺ɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: u‧ni‧ver‧sal

universal m or f (plural universais)

1. of or pertaining to the universe
2. world-wide, universal, common to all cultures

   Synonym: mundial

• universalmente

• universalidade
• universo

• “universal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “universal”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Borrowed from Latin ūniversālis.

• IPA^(key): /univɛʁˈzaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

universal (strong nominative masculine singular universaler, comparative universaler, superlative am universalsten)

1. universal

• “universal” in Duden online
• “universal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[4] (in German)

Internationalism, from Latin ūniversālis.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /univərˈsal/ [u.ni.fərˈsal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: u‧ni‧ver‧sal

universal (comparative lebih universal, superlative paling universal)

1. universal:
   1. of or pertaining to the universe
   2. common to all members of a group or class

      Synonym: umum

   3. common to all society; worldwide
   4. unlimited; vast; infinite
   5. useful for many purposes; all-purpose

universal (plural universal-universal)

1. universal

• “universal”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

• universall, universalle, universel, universele, uniyversale, universell, unyversal

Borrowed from Middle French universel, and its etymon Latin ūniversālis; equivalent to universe +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /iu̯ˌnivɛrˈsal/, /iu̯ˈnivɛrsal/, (by analogy to universe) /iu̯niˈvɛrsal/

universal (especially Late Middle English)

1. all-encompassing, subject to everything and everyone; having universal significance.
2. absolute, subject to everything in a given area or subject (e.g. a settlement; a person)
3. frequently practiced, usual, customary.
4. (rare) Given total leeway and control; with universal power.
5. (rare) unbiased, unprejudiced, nonpolitical
6. (rare) general, non-specific, generic
7. (philosophy, rare) unformed, uncreated, unmade.
8. (philosophy, rare) theoretical, abstract, general.

• universalite
• universally

• English: universal

• “ūniversā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 31 April 2018.

universal

1. (Late Middle English, philosophy, rare) A category, class, or classification.

• English: universal

• “ūniversā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 31 April 2018.

universal

1. (Late Middle English) The whole, all of, every portion of, all parts of.
2. (Late Middle English, rare) Every kind of; all sorts of

• “ūniversā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 31 April 2018.

From Latin ūniversālis.

• Audio (Languedoc):

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universal m (feminine singular universala, masculine plural universals, feminine plural universalas)

1. universal

• universalament

• univèrs
• universalitat

From Latin ūniversālis.

universal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular universale)

1. universal

• French: universel
• → Middle English: universal, universall, universalle, universel, universele, uniyversale, universell, unyversal
  • English: universal

• üniversal

• IPA^(key): /ynivɛrˈsal/

universal

1. universal

From Latin ūniversālis.

• Hyphenation: u‧ni‧ver‧sal

universal m or f (plural universais, comparable, comparative mais universal, superlative o mais universal or universalíssimo)

1. (relational) universe; universal
2. common to all society; universal; world-wide
3. common to all members of a group or class; universal
   • 1999, Os pecados da língua: pequeno repertório de grandes erros de linguagem, Editora AGE Ltda., →ISBN, page 114:

     Símbolos
     ☞ Não se usa o ponto indicativo de abreviação: km, m l, kg.
     ☞ Têm formas iguais para singular e plural.
     ☞ São de uso universal e irrestrito.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• universalmente

• universalidade
• universo

• “universal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “universal” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “universal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French universel, from Latin universalis. By surface analysis, univers +‎ -al.

universal m or n (feminine singular universală, masculine plural universali, feminine/neuter plural universale)

1. universal

• universalitate

From Latin ūniversālis.

• IPA^(key): /unibeɾˈsal/ [u.ni.β̞eɾˈsal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: u‧ni‧ver‧sal

universal m or f (masculine and feminine plural universales)

1. universal

• “universal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• vulneráis