Very broad; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or groups as opposed to specific instances.
Capri pants can be a generic term for any cropped slim pants.
[…] 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.1864, Walter Bagehot, “Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning; or, Pure, Ornate, and Grotesque Art in English Poetry”, in The National Review, volume 19:
2
Lacking in precision, often in an evasive fashion; vague; imprecise.
3
Medicine, Pharmacology, Sciences Of a product or drug, not having a brand name; nonproprietary in design or contents; fungible with the rest of its class.
The four-and-one-half-day trial was centered on acts that neither she nor prosecutors dispute: On July 13, 2012, she drove her Lexus S.U.V. erratically after swallowing Zolpidem, a generic form of the sleep medication Ambien.2014 February 28, Joseph Berger, “Fast Acquittal for Kennedy, Whose Name Put Prosecutors in Bind”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2022:
4
Biology, Natural sciences, Taxonomy Pertaining to genera of life instead of particular species thereof.
Holonym: familial
Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific, specific
1 more example
There are scores of generic names within the order Decapoda, which includes many sea creatures that are called shrimp.
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Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, SciencesNonstandard Specifying neither masculine nor feminine; epicene; unisex.
Words like salesperson and firefighter are generic.
This included criticism of the generic use of man to include men and women.
6
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Of a procedure, written so as to operate on any data type, the type required being passed as a parameter.
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Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences Of a point, having coordinates that are algebraically independent over the base field.
8
Relating to genre.
Both [films] test formal and generic boundaries.2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 47:
9
Having no distinguishing characteristics; unoriginal.
Etymology From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic.
1
A product sold under a generic name.
2
A wine that is a combination of several wines, or made from a combination of several grape varieties.
3
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A term that specifies neither male nor female.
[…]a male-centered perspective[…]has resulted in false generics in everyday life[…]1998, Jacqueline A. Dienemann, Nursing administration: managing patient care:
4
The part of a toponym that identifies the feature's type.
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.2024 July 29, “geographical names: translation”, in Writing Tips Plus, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, retrieved 09 Nov 2024: