Standard Lemma guide

generalist

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹə.lɪst/
  • Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /ˈd͡ʒen.(ə.)ɹə.lɪst/
  • CMU ARPABET: JH EH1 N ER0 AH0 L IH0 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person with a broad general knowledge, especially one with more than superficial knowledge in several areas and the ability to combine ideas from diverse fields.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nonspecialist

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A general practitioner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Species which can thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions. A eurytopic species.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, ecology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a modern scholar who is in a position to acquire more than superficial knowledge about many different interests

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a statistician has to be something of a generalist

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Renaissance man

Antonyms: specialist

Broader terms: scholar, scholarly person, bookman, student

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh1- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh1os Proto-Italic *genos Latin genus, generis Proto-Indo-European *h2el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin generālisbor. Anglo-Norman generalbor. Middle French generalbor. ▲ Latin generālisder. Middle English general English general Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English generalist From general + -ist.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: generalista — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Chinese: 通才 (tōngcái) — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Finnish: yleismies — person with a broad general knowledge
  • French: généraliste — person with a broad general knowledge
  • German: Generalist — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Japanese: 何でも屋 (nandemoya) — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Japanese: ゼネラリスト (zenerarisuto) — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Spanish: generalista — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Swedish: generalist — person with a broad general knowledge
  • Catalan: generalista — general practitioner
  • Finnish: yleislääkäri — general practitioner
  • Spanish: generalista — general practitioner
  • Finnish: generalisti — biological species
  • German: Generalist — biological species