All-purpose


for every purpose:
an all-purpose detergent.
Contemporary Examples

But the pope thought of him more as an all-purpose authority on anything scientific or technical.
Benjamin Franklin, America’s First Storm Chaser Lee Sandlin April 13, 2013

This all-purpose response would also allow one to deny that there is a missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777.
Evangelicals Still Don’t Know What to Do With the Big Bang Karl W. Giberson March 22, 2014

But college is not like some sort of all-purpose herbal supplement that cures bunions and also colic; it teaches specific skills.
Sorry, Kids, No High School Diplomas Need Apply Megan McArdle February 19, 2013

Or maybe we are just whiny wimps, an all-purpose explanation for every descent-of-man phenomenon that never is far off the mark.
Blame Climate Change for Your Terrible Seasonal Allergies Kent Sepkowitz May 13, 2014

He had hanged himself with 550 cord, an all-purpose green string that looks like a shoelace and can hold 550 pounds.
Suicidal Soldiers Elspeth Reeve May 10, 2009

Historical Examples

Runkel’s all-purpose Cocoa is the finest quality chocolate, already a powder, all ready to use!
Mrs. Wilson’s Cook Book Mary A. Wilson

It would be nice if we could report that they are fit for all-purpose service, on a wide range of planets.
The Hunters William Morrison

An all-purpose goat’s milk, Parmesan type, eaten sliced when young, grated when old.
The Complete Book of Cheese Robert Carlton Brown

The carabao, or water buffalo, is the one all-purpose farm animal.
The Old World and Its Ways William Jennings Bryan

They were sitting in all-purpose Lounges, arranged in a circle.
Subjectivity Norman Spinrad

adjective
useful for many things
adj.

1877, from all + purpose (n.).

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