Adjective: universal
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
Perifrastic
| Comparative | more universal |
| Superlative | most universal |
Sample Sentences
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In Logic, the letter A is used as a symbol for the universal affirmative proposition in the general form "all x is y." [1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:]
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I had been planning every day through these years toward a universal car. [1922, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, chapter 4, in My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., →OCLC:]
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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. [1955 January, Charles E. Lee, “The Glasgow Underground Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 24:]
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Sutton SignWriting is the universal and complete solution for written sign language, ISO 15924 script code "Sgnw". [2022 January 30, Steve Slevinski, “Formal SignWriting”, in IETF, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2024:]
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She achieved universal fame.
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[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: […] [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:]
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First there is no universal sizing system for carving tools. Seemingly every brand and country of manufacture uses a different system. [2026 August 26, Shea Alexander, “Basic Relief Carving Techniques”, in Popular Woodworking, volume 290, number 4, page 27:]
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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. [1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review, volume 48, number 5, page 670a of 668–680:]
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universal wrench
Adjectives inflected like universal
priest-ridden,
unreposed,
evadible,
dissentious,
dissentient,
unforesighted,
egocentrical,
unephemeral,
unennobling,
mensuralist,
flocculent,
unseductive,
whoopsy,
whooshy,
surrogate,
Nicodian,
unrepaired,
prismatoidal,
renorenal,
unseducible, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
From Middle English universal, from Old French universal (modern French universel), from Latin ūniversālis, equivalent to universe + -al. See: French Adjectives '
universel', Latin Adjectives '
ūniversālis'.
Verbs referencing "universal"
Finnish Adjectives
universaali.