universal

Pluraluniversals

1. 1
   adjective

   Shared by all of society and found or happening throughout the world.

   The desire for dignity appears to be universal across human cultures.

   Access to clean water remains far from universal in many regions.

   Similarworldwide, global, widespread, general, common

   Oppositelocal, limited, particular

2. 2
   adjective

   Shared by or applying to every member of a particular group or class.

   Attendance at the morning meeting is universal among the staff.

   A love of fish is nearly universal among the cats in the shelter.

   Similargeneral, common, unanimous

   Oppositelimited, partial

   Note

   Here the boundary is a group, not the world. The Glasgow Underground's universal fare of 1d. in 1896 applied to every passenger on one railway. Logic's universal affirmative is the proposition of the form "all x is y," which is the strictest version of the sense: every member, no exceptions. For what holds across all humanity, reach for the "worldwide" meaning instead.

3. 3
   adjective

   Suitable or usable for many different purposes rather than limited to a single task.

   The kit includes a universal adapter for plugs in different countries.

   Mechanics value a universal wrench that adjusts to many bolt sizes.

   Similarall-purpose, multipurpose, versatile, adaptable

   Oppositespecialized, dedicated, specific

4. 4
   adjective

   Relating to the universe as a whole, or to all of space and matter.

   Physicists hope to discover universal constants that hold throughout the cosmos.

   The theory describes universal gravitation acting between all bodies in space.

   Note

   The literal sense, built straight from the noun: Latin ūniversālis is universe plus -al, reaching English through Old French and Middle English. It is the scientist's adjective in universal gravitation and universal constants, where the claim is that a law holds everywhere in the cosmos. The looser senses, such as shared by a whole group and worldwide, narrow that scope from the cosmos to a class or to humankind.

5. 5
   adjective

   Boundless and immeasurably vast, extending without any limit.

   She felt a universal grief, vast and without any boundary.

   The ancient text describes a universal expanse lying beyond all measure.

   Similarboundless, infinite, limitless, vast, immeasurable

   Oppositefinite, limited

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A property or feature held in common by many particular things.

   Plato argued that a universal like beauty exists independently of beautiful objects.

   Whether universals are real or merely names was a central medieval debate.

   Oppositeparticular

   Note

   Philosophy pairs it with the particular: Everest is a particular, and what many things share is a universal. Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy (1912) maps the pair onto grammar, with proper names standing for particulars and most other nouns, adjectives, prepositions and verbs standing for universals. One old dispute asks whether universals exist apart from things, only in the mind, or merely as shared names. Those three answers are realism, conceptualism and nominalism.

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