as in unlimited
not limited or specialized in application or purpose
a general-purpose glue for routine household repairs
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Recent Examples of general-purpose
Large general-purpose models consume extreme energy amounts: the World Economic Forum highlights that generative AI systems might use around 33 times more energy to complete a task than a small language model or task-specific software would.
—
Julius Černiauskas, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025
Off in its own corner is a company called D-Wave, which makes hardware that relies on quantum effects to perform calculations, but isn't a general-purpose quantum computer.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 12 Mar. 2025
Small models are not used as general-purpose tools like their larger cousins.
—Stephen Ornes, Quanta Magazine, 10 Mar. 2025
Far from a general-purpose chatbot, the sandbox was envisioned as a secure, cost-effective environment for federal employees to explore how AI might be able to assist their work, according to the program’s code base on GitHub—for instance, by testing prompts and designing custom models.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for general-purpose
Julius Černiauskas, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025
Off in its own corner is a company called D-Wave, which makes hardware that relies on quantum effects to perform calculations, but isn't a general-purpose quantum computer.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 12 Mar. 2025
Small models are not used as general-purpose tools like their larger cousins.
—Stephen Ornes, Quanta Magazine, 10 Mar. 2025
Far from a general-purpose chatbot, the sandbox was envisioned as a secure, cost-effective environment for federal employees to explore how AI might be able to assist their work, according to the program’s code base on GitHub—for instance, by testing prompts and designing custom models.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for general-purpose
Recent Examples of Synonyms for general-purpose
Adjective
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Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month Subscribe Already a subscriber?—
Joshua Rapp Learn,
Discover Magazine,
22 Mar. 2025
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Get unlimited access to journalism that fuels your curiosity, passion and ambition.—
Forbes,
Forbes,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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This shift helped to support a general festive culture, as laity found creative ways to fund their local churches.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
27 Mar. 2025
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Nash retired from basketball in 2014 but then served as the general manager for the Canadian men's national team and became the coaching consultant with the Golden State Warriors.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Suter is a pending unrestricted free agent and is sitting at 21 goals.—
Thomas Drance,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
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As of now, Myles Turner, Brook Lopez, D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley are among the best players who are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“General-purpose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/general-purpose. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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