general vs public

general

adj
  • Not limited in use or application; applicable to the whole or every member of a class or category. 

  • Including or involving every part or member of a given or implied entity, whole etc.; as opposed to specific or particular. 

  • Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite. 

  • Applied to a person (as a postmodifier or a normal preceding adjective) to indicate supreme rank, in civil or military titles, and later in other terms; pre-eminent. 

  • Not limited to a specific class; miscellaneous, concerned with all branches of a given subject or area. 

  • Prevalent or widespread among a given class or area; common, usual. 

verb
  • To lead (soldiers) as a general. 

noun
  • The holder of a senior military title, originally designating the commander of an army and now a specific rank falling under field marshal (in the British army) and below general of the army or general of the air force in the US army and air forces. 

  • A great strategist or tactician. 

  • General anesthesia. 

  • A xiangqi piece, that is moved one point orthogonally and confined within the palace. 

  • A general anesthetic. 

  • The head of certain religious orders, especially Dominicans or Jesuits. 

  • A commander of naval forces; an admiral. 

  • A general servant; a maid with no specific duties. 

  • The general insurance industry. 

public

adj
  • Accessible to the program in general, not only to the class or any subclasses. 

  • Able to be seen or known by everyone; open to general view, happening without concealment. 

  • Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community. 

  • Traded publicly via a stock market. 

  • Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes. 

  • Pertaining to the people as a whole (as opposed to a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc. 

noun
  • The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group. 

  • A particular group or demographic to be targeted. 

How often have the words general and public occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )