1
- affecting or concerning all or most people, places, or things; widespread全体的; 总的; 普遍的：
books of general interest.
大众读物。
1.1
- not specialized or limited in range of subject, application, activity, etc.（学科, 应用, 活动等）非专业的; 一般的; 通常的：
brush up on your general knowledge.
温习一下你的基础知识。
1.2
- (of a rule, principle, etc.) true for all or most cases（规则, 原理等）通用的; 常规的。
1.3
- normal or usual正常的; 惯例的：
it is not general practice to confirm or deny such reports.
简单的批准或否决这类报告不合常规。
2
- considering or including the main features or elements of something, and disregarding exceptions; overall大体的; 全面的：
they fired in the general direction of the enemy
他们向敌人大致所在的方向开火
a general introduction to the subject
对这一学科的全面介绍。
3
- often in titles chief or principal首席的; 主要的：
the Director General of the BBC
英国广播公司总裁
a general manager.
总经理。
1
- a commander of an army, or an army officer of very high rank（部队的）指挥官; （很高级别的）军官。
1.1
- a high rank of officer in the army and in the US air force, above lieutenant general and below field marshal, general of the army, or general of the air force（陆军和美国空军中的）上将, 陆军五星将军, 空军五星上将。
1.2
- informal short for LIEUTENANT GENERAL or MAJOR GENERAL.〈非正式〉LIEUTENANT GENERAL或MAJOR GENERAL的简称。
1.3
- the head of a religious order organized on quasi-military lines, e.g. the Jesuits, the Dominicans, or the Salvation Army半军事化管理的宗教组织（如耶稣会修士、多明我会修士或救世军）的领袖。
2
- archaic (the general) the general public〈古〉大众, 公众。
短语
as a general rule
- in most cases通常。
in general
1
- usually; mainly通常; 大体上：
in general, Alexander was a peaceful, loving man.
总的来说, 亚历山大是个平和的、有爱心的人。
2
- as a whole从总体上来看：
our understanding of culture in general and of literature in particular.
我们对文化总体的理解, 特别是对文学的理解。
词源
Middle English: via Old French from Latin generalis, from genus, gener-'class, race, kind'. The noun primarily denotes a person having overall authority: the sense 'army commander' is an abbreviation of captain general, from French capitaine général 'commander-in-chief'.