u|ni|ver|sal

u|ni|ver|sal «_YOO nuh VUR suhl», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. a) of all; belonging to all; concerning all; shared by all: »

Food is a universal need. Kings are not born; they are made by universal hallucination (George Bernard Shaw).

b) coming from all; shared in by all: »

a universal protest.

c) understood or used by all: »

the universal language of love.

2. existing everywhere: »

The law of gravity is universal. Sickness and disease are universal; they occur in every country of the world.

3. covering a whole group, as of persons, things, or cases; general: »

universal adult suffrage.

4. accomplished in all, or many, subjects; wide-ranging: »

a universal genius, universal knowledge.

5. constituting, existing as, or regarded as a complete whole; complete; entire; whole: »

the universal cosmos.

6. adaptable as to different sizes, angles, or kinds of work.

7. Philosophy, Logic. asserting or denying something of every member of a class; generic: »

“All men are mortal” is a universal proposition.

8. Mathematics. having to do with a universe of objects or numbers; comprising all the elements under consideration: »

a universal set.

9. capable of operating from either alternating-current or direct-current power lines: »

a universal motor, a universal television receiver.

–n.

1. Philosophy, Logic. a) that which is predicated or asserted of all the individuals or species of a class or genus; universal proposition. b) a general term or concept; abstraction: »

The common man is a universal.

2. something universal, especially a person or thing that is universally powerful or current: »

He made their pride, pity, love, anguish, glory, and endurance into universals (Newsweek).

3. = universal joint. (Cf. ↑universal joint)

╂[< Latin ūniversālis < ūniversus; see etym. under universe (Cf. ↑universe)]

–u´ni|ver´sal|ness, noun.