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Definition of "generic" []

  • Relating to or descriptive of an entire group or class; general. See Synonyms at general. (adjective)
  • Biology Of or relating to a genus. (adjective)
  • Not having a brand name: generic soap. (adjective)
  • Of or being a drug sold under or identified by its official nonproprietary or chemical name. (adjective)
  • Grammar Specifying neither masculine nor feminine gender: generic nouns like waitperson and executive. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "generic" in a sentence
  • "The arbiter appears to the undersigned to have viewed the rivers St. John and Restigouche as possessing both a specific and a generic character; that considered _alone_ they were _specific_ ', and the designation in the treaty of "rivers falling into the Atlantic" was inapplicable to them; that considered _In connection with other rivers_ they were _generic_ and were embraced in the terms of the treaty, but that as their connection with other rivers would bring them within a principle which, according to the views taken by him of other parts of the question, was equally realized by both lines, it would be hazardous to allow them any weight in deciding the disputed boundary."
  • "But the former's concentration on strategy content does not change our conclusion: in fact, the term generic strategy is one of the most popular in the literature of positioning e.g., Porter, 1980,1985."
  • "Crazy, Stupid, Love opened a day before it did in the U.S., the Spanish title Warner Bros. originally affixed to prints was Loco Por Amor Crazy for Love, a moniker generic enough that it could easily have been attached to any Hollywood rom-com of the last 40 years."