عامة

Etymology
Derived from the feminine form of of the verb. See 🇨🇬 for comparison.

Noun

 * 1)  the major or most general part (of), the majority or generality (of); most (of), most
 * 2)  the people who have not gone through moral, theological, and/or philosophical instruction and training or who are oblivious to mysterious, esoteric, or occult knowledge; the laity; the common unlearned people, the populace, the hoi polloi, the multitude
 * 3)  the people or sects thought to be like the laity in their simple-mindedness, ignorance, or numerousness; simpletons
 * 4)  a raft
 * 1)  the people who have not gone through moral, theological, and/or philosophical instruction and training or who are oblivious to mysterious, esoteric, or occult knowledge; the laity; the common unlearned people, the populace, the hoi polloi, the multitude
 * 2)  the people or sects thought to be like the laity in their simple-mindedness, ignorance, or numerousness; simpletons
 * 3)  a raft
 * 1)  the people or sects thought to be like the laity in their simple-mindedness, ignorance, or numerousness; simpletons
 * 2)  a raft
 * 1)  the people or sects thought to be like the laity in their simple-mindedness, ignorance, or numerousness; simpletons
 * 2)  a raft
 * 1)  a raft

Adverb

 * 1) generally
 * 2) altogether, entirely
 * 1) altogether, entirely
 * 1) altogether, entirely

Usage notes
In its numerating sense, the word simply denotes "the general, widespread majority" (as opposed to those who are simply numerically fewer) or, more specifically, "the public". However, the pejorative uses are so predominant that it is sometimes hard to distinguish whether the reference to the higher numbers implies disparagement or not. Blunter demeaning often pivots on lack of knowledge, be it moral, religious, and theological, philosophical, or secular (that is, non-religious), hence their being visualized as a class of multitudes that is respectively contrasted with the ; with ; and, more recently, with. By analogy, the word is very commonly found in sectarian polemics, where it centralizes the purported affectation of knowledge of the ideological rivals.