all-purpose

adjective

all-pur·​pose ˈȯl-ˈpər-pəs 

: suited for many purposes or uses

Synonyms of all-purpose

• unlimited
• general
• general-purpose

Examples of all-purpose in a Sentence

there's nothing wrong with all-purpose flour for baking bread, but flour with more gluten is better

Recent Examples on the Web

To make the pie crust, sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt into a food processor, then add the sugar, butter, and shortening. —Carole Kotkin, Miami Herald, 6 May 2026

Fertilize with organic, granular, all-purpose fruit tree fertilizer. —Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 May 2026

Audio performance is clear but not very loud, working best in quiet environments and falling short in noisy ones, which reinforces its role as a personal, stationary display rather than an all-purpose wearable. —Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 29 Apr. 2026

Wortham earned All-Big Sky Conference honors at receiver at Eastern Washington and again for his senior season in 2025 at Montana, where the 5-8, 180-pound burner produced a school-record 2,431 all-purpose yards. —Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for all-purpose

• multipurpose
• purpose

Kids Definition

all-purpose

adjective

all-pur·​pose

-ˈpər-pəs

: suitable for many uses

an all-purpose tool