universal

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: u=ni=ver=sal
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

universal, a. [L. universalis: cf. F. universel, OF. also universal. See Universe.].

•  Of or pertaining to the universe; extending to, including, or affecting, the whole number, quantity, or space; unlimited; general; all-reaching; all-pervading; as, universal ruin; universal good; universal benevolence or benefice.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  " Universal and its derivatives are used in common discourse for general and its derivatives. See General."  [1913 Webster]

  "The universal cause
  Acts not by partial, but by general laws."  [1913 Webster]

  "This universal frame began."  [1913 Webster]
•  Constituting or considered as a whole; total; entire; whole; as, the universal world.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "At which the universal host up dent
  A shout that tore Hell's concave."  [1913 Webster]
•  Adapted or adaptable to all or to various uses, shapes, sizes, etc.; as, a universal milling machine.  [1913 Webster]
•  Forming the whole of a genus; relatively unlimited in extension; affirmed or denied of the whole of a subject; as, a universal proposition; -- opposed to particular; e. g. (universal affirmative) All men are animals; (universal negative) No men are omniscient.  [1913 Webster]

Universal chuck (Mach.), a chuck, as for a lathe, having jaws which can be moved simultaneously so as to grasp objects of various sizes. -- Universal church, the whole church of God in the world; the catholic church. See the Note under Catholic, a., 1. -- Universal coupling. (Mach.) Same as Universal joint, below. -- Universal dial, a dial by which the hour may be found in any part of the world, or under any elevation of the pole. -- Universal instrument (Astron.), a species of altitude and azimuth instrument, the peculiarity of which is, that the object end of the telescope is placed at right angles to the eye end, with a prism of total reflection at the angle, and the eye end constitutes a portion of the horizontal axis of the instrument, having the eyepiece at the pivot and in the center of the altitude circle, so that the eye has convenient access to both at the same time. -- Universal joint (Mach.), a contrivance used for joining two shafts or parts of a machine endwise, so that the one may give rotary motion to the other when forming an angle with it, or may move freely in all directions with respect to the other, as by means of a cross connecting the forked ends of the two shafts (Fig. 1). Since this joint can not act when the angle of the shafts is less than 140 -- Universal umbel (Bot.), a primary or general umbel; the first or largest set of rays in a compound umbel; -- opposed to partial umbel. A universal involucre is not unfrequently placed at the foot of a universal umbel.

Syn. -- General; all; whole; total. See General.

universal, n. 

•  The whole; the general system of the universe; the universe.  [1913 Webster]

  "Plato calleth God the cause and original, the nature and reason, of the universal."  [1913 Webster]
•  A general abstract conception, so called from being universally applicable to, or predicable of, each individual or species contained under it.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

universal, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of, belonging to, or done etc. by all persons or things in the world or in the class concerned; applicable to all cases (the feeling was universal; met with universal approval).
2 Logic (of a proposition) in which something is asserted of all of a class (opp. PARTICULAR).
--n.
1 Logic a universal proposition.
2 Philos. a a term or concept of general application. b a nature or essence signified by a general term.

Idiom

universal agent an agent empowered to do all that can be delegated. universal compass a compass with legs that may be extended for large circles. universal coupling (or joint) a coupling or joint which can transmit rotary power by a shaft at any selected angle. universal language an artificial language intended for use by all nations. universal proposition Logic a proposition in which the predicate is affirmed or denied of all members of a class (opp. particular proposition). universal suffrage a suffrage extending to all adults with minor exceptions. universal time = GREENWICH MEAN TIME.

Derivative

universality n. universalize v.tr. (also -ise). universalization n. universally adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF universal or L universalis (as UNIVERSE)

THESAURUS

universal

Berkeleianism, Geistesgeschichte, Hegelian idea, Hegelianism, Kantian idea, Kantianism, Neoplatonism, Platonic form, Platonic idea, Platonism, absolute, absolute idealism, accustomed, across-the-board, aggregate, all, all-comprehending, all-comprehensive, all-covering, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-filling, all-including, all-inclusive, all-out, all-pervading, allover, animatism, animism, archetype, average, blanket, born, boundless, broad, broad-based, catholic, clean, clear, common, commonplace, compendious, complete, complex idea, comprehensive, congenital, consummate, conventional, cosmic, cosmogonal, cosmogonic, cosmologic, cosmopolitan, countless, country-wide, current, customary, deep-dyed, downright, dyed-in-the-wool, ecumenic, ecumenical, egregious, encyclopedic, endless, entire, epidemic, eternal, eternal object, eternal universal, everyday, exemplar, exhaustive, exhaustless, extending everywhere, extensive, familiar, form, formal cause, galactic, general, generic, global, gross, habitual, heaven-wide, highest category, history of ideas, holistic, household, hylozoism, ideal, idealism, ideate, ideatum, idee-force, illimitable, illimited, immaterialism, immeasurable, immense, incalculable, inclusive, incomprehensible, inexhaustible, infinite, infinitely continuous, innate idea, innumerable, integral, integrated, intensive, interminable, interminate, international, limitless, measureless, metaphysical idealism, model, monistic idealism, national, no end of, nondenominational, nonsectarian, noosphere, normative, noumenon, omnibus, omnipresent, one, one and indivisible, ordinary, out-and-out, outright, over-all, pandemic, panoramic, panpsychism, pattern, percept, perfect, perpetual, personalism, pervasive, plain, planetary, plumb, popular, predominating, prescriptive, prevailing, prevalent, prototype, psychism, pure, radical, regular, regulation, regulative first principle, sheer, shoreless, simple idea, solipsism, spiritualism, standard, stock, straight, subjectivism, subsistent form, sumless, sweeping, synoptic, termless, the Absolute, the Absolute Idea, the Self-determined, the realized ideal, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, total, transcendent idea, transcendent nonempirical concept, transcendent universal, transcendental, ubiquitous, unbounded, uncircumscribed, unconditional, unfathomable, universal concept, universal essence, unlimited, unmeasurable, unmeasured, unmitigated, unnumbered, unplumbed, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, untold, usual, utter, veritable, vernacular, whole, wholesale, wide-ranging, widespread, without bound, without end, without exception, without limit, without measure, without number, without omission, wonted, world-wide, worldwide

ROGET THESAURUS

universal

Generality

N generality, generalization, universality, catholicity, catholicism, miscellany, miscellaneousness, dragnet, common run, worldwideness, everyone, everybody, all hands, all the world and his wife, anybody, N or M, all sorts, prevalence, run, general, generic, collective, broad, comprehensive, sweeping, encyclopedical, widespread, universal, catholic, catholical, common, worldwide, ecumenical, oecumenical, transcendental, prevalent, prevailing, rife, epidemic, besetting, all over, covered with, Pan-American, Anglican, Pan-Hellenic, Pan-Germanic, slavic, panharmonic, every, all, unspecified, impersonal, customary, whatever, whatsoever, to a man, one and all, generally, always, for better for worse, in general, generally speaking, speaking generally, for the most part, in the long run.