generic
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: genèric
Alternative forms
- generick (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic; thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, general.
Pronunciation
Adjective
generic (comparative more generic, superlative most generic)
- Very comprehensive; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups (genera) as opposed to specific instances.
- Antonyms: specific, instantial
- 1864, Walter Bagehot, “Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning; or, Pure, Ornate, and Grotesque Art in English Poetry”, in The National Review, volume 19:
- […] the essence is that such self-describing poets describe what is in them, but not peculiar to them, – what is generic, not what is special and individual.
- "Shrimp" is the generic name for a number of species of sea creature.
- (taxonomy) Pertaining to genera of life instead of particular species thereof.
- There are scores of generic names within the order Decapoda, which includes many sea creatures that are called shrimp.
- Holonym: familial
- Meronyms: infrasubspecific, < infraspecific, subspecific, < specific
- lacking in precision, often in an evasive fashion; vague; imprecise
- (of a product or drug) not having a brand name; nonproprietary in design or contents; fungible with the rest of its class.
- (grammar) specifying neither masculine nor feminine; epicene; unisex.
- Words like salesperson and firefighter are generic.
- (computing, of procedures) Written so as to operate on any data type, the type required being passed as a parameter.
- (geometry, of a point) Having coordinates that are algebraically independent over the base field.
- Relating to genre.
- 2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 47:
- Both [films] test formal and generic boundaries.
Synonyms
- (comprehensive): broad, general, classic; see also Thesaurus:generic
- (lacking in precision): fuzzy, indefinite; see also Thesaurus:vague
- (lacking a brand): unbranded
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “comprehensive”): specific, particular, concrete; see also Thesaurus:specific
- (antonym(s) of “lacking a brand”): non-generic, proprietary, branded
- (antonym(s) of “neither masculine nor feminine”): gendered
Derived terms
- bigeneric
- biogeneric
- cogeneric
- extrageneric
- Generica
- generically
- generic class
- generic element
- generic function
- genericide
- generic interval
- genericise
- genericism
- genericity
- genericization
- genericize
- generic name
- genericness
- generic programming
- generic property
- generic term
- generic they
- generic top-level domain
- generic type
- generic you
- generify
- heterogeneric
- infrageneric
- intergeneric
- intrageneric
- monogeneric
- multigeneric
- nongeneric
- nongenerically
- nongenericness
- polygeneric
- pseudogeneric
- quadrigeneric
- semigeneric
- subgeneric
- supergeneric
- suprageneric
- trigeneric
- unigeneric
Translations
very comprehensive
|
of, or relating to a genus
|
not having a brand name
|
specifying neither masculine nor feminine e.g. salesperson
Noun
generic (plural generics)
- A product sold under a generic name.
- A wine that is a combination of several wines, or made from a combination of several grape varieties.
- (grammar) A term that specifies neither male nor female.
- 1998, Jacqueline A. Dienemann, Nursing administration: managing patient care:
- […] a male-centered perspective […] has resulted in false generics in everyday life […]
- (toponymy) The part of a toponym that identifies the feature's type.[1]
- 2024 July 29, “geographical names: translation”, in Writing Tips Plus, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, retrieved 2024-11-09:
- Where the generic of an English-language place name has been translated into French, it is essential to restore it to its original English form when translating the French document into English.
- Antonym: specific
Translations
a product sold under a generic name
|
a wine that is a blend of several wines, or made from a blend of several grape varieties
|
Related terms
Anagrams
References
- Ratelle, Claudine, Herrera, Carolina, Poirier, Isabelle (2012) Glossary of Generic Terms in Canada's Geographical Names, 2nd edition, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, →ISBN, pages xi–xii
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