generally
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɹə.li/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹə.li/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɚ.li/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɚ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɹə.li/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒen.ɹə.li/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈdʒɛn(ə)rəli/
note: Tanglish, Kerala
ipa: [dʒɛn̺d̺rɐli]
Forms: form: most generally
Etymology: From Middle English generally, generalliche, equivalent to general + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: It is generally known that the Earth is round.
text: The action he inaugurated culminated in the law for the suppression of trampage, that has accomplished such good in the Granite State, and that has been so generally copied in other states.
ref: 1882, Henry Harrison Metcalf, John Norris McClintock, The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine (page 382)
text: After defending our argument against several objections, we conclude by considering the implications our argument has for the rest of the instrumental convergence thesis and for AI safety more generally.
ref: 2025 June 13, Rhys Southan, Helena Ward, Jen Semler, “A timing problem for instrumental convergence”, in Philosophical Studies, Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC:
glosses: Popularly or widely.
examples: text: I generally have a walk in the afternoon.
text: During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]
ref: 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
text: He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:
text: Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
ref: 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
text: Musk’s Israel tour was transparently transactional and frankly insulting. The antisemitic sentiment Musk endorsed had nothing to do with Israel; “replacement theory” is generally an unsupported allegation that Jews and other immigrants in the US and Europe are destroying Western civilization.
ref: 2023 November 28, Jill Filipovic, “Opinion: Elon Musk’s Israel tour was transparently transactional and insulting”, in CNN:
glosses: As a rule; usually; typically; in most cases.
examples: text: Generally speaking …
text: “There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.”
Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]
ref: 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
text: Autopsy results revealed that Braydon was generally malnourished and thin. His cause of death was hyperthermia due to the extreme heat, which would have “caused extreme discomfort and difficulty breathing as he died.”
ref: 2015 December 23, Tiffany Ap and Artemis Moshtaghian, “Neglected boy shut in room with heater on dies of hyperthermia”, in CNN:
glosses: Without reference to specific details.
examples: text: It is generally true that the angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees.
glosses: In the general case, without exception; in all cases.
examples: text: I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 17:11:
glosses: Collectively; as a whole; without omissions.
Synonyms: sense: popularly or widely
word: commonly
word: basically
raw_tags: as a rule
word: by and large
word: commonly
word: ordinarily
word: mostly
word: regularly
word: wontedly
word: usually
word: normally
sense: without reference to specific details
word: generically
sense: without exception
word: always
word: collaboratively
word: en masse
word: jointly
word: all things considered
word: altogether
word: at large
word: as a whole
word: broadly
word: catholicly
word: in general
word: generally
word: overall
word: universally
Hyponyms: word: mostly
word: normally
word: usually
Derived terms: generally speaking
Related terms: word: completely