General | Mean of general in English Dictionary

/ˈʤɛnrəl/

• of, relating to, or affecting all the people or things in a group
1. They have issued a general warning/order.
2. a general alarm
3. The general mood here is optimistic. [=most people here are optimistic]
4. The general consensus is that we should go ahead.
5. It's a story with general interest. = It's a general-interest story. [=it is a story that will interest many or most people]
• relating to the main or major parts of something rather than the details
1. The witness was able to provide a very general description of the thief.
2. She began her talk with some general observations about the state of the industry.
3. The book provides a good general introduction to the subject.
4. My concerns are all general—nothing specific.
5. The details of the new plan are different, but it's based on the same general concept/idea.
6. My general impression was that things were going well.
• not exact
1. They were found in the same general area.
2. I'm going in the general direction of the store.

• ordinary, normal, or usual
1. Their general practice in such cases is to offer a deal. = As a general rule, they offer a deal in such cases. [=they usually/generally offer a deal in such cases]
• of the basic or usual kind
1. a general hospital
2. a science book for the general reader [=the reader who is not a scientist]
3. a doctor practicing general medicine [=basic health care that is not specialized]
• of high rank
1. a general manager
2. a general contractor [=a contractor who is in charge of a building project]
• Noun
• in a general way
1. In general, I like the way things have gone.
• as a whole
1. It had an impact not just on young people, but on people in general. [=on all or most people]
• in most cases
1. In general [=generally], it takes about a month for the shipment to arrive.
• a military officer of very high rank