عامة

Derived from the feminine form of active participle of the verb عَمَّ (ʕamma). See Hebrew עם (ʕam, “people, nation”) for comparison.

• IPA^(key): /ʕaːm.ma/

عَامَّة • (ʕāmma) f (plural عَوَامّ (ʕawāmm))

1. (uncountable, construct) the major or most general part (of), the majority or generality (of); most (of), most

   Synonyms: أَكْثَر (ʔakṯar, “the majority (of)”), جُلّ (jull, “most of”), أَغْلَب (ʔaḡlab, “the more overwhelming part (of)”), مُعْظَم (muʕẓam, “the greater part (of)”)

   تِلْكَ إِرَادَةُ عَامَّةِ ٱلشَّعْبِ

   tilka ʔirādatu ʕāmmati š-šaʕbi

   This is the will of the majority of the people!

   عَامَّةُ ٱلنَّاسِ يُرِيدُونَ هٰذَا

   ʕāmmatu n-nāsi yurīdūna hāḏā

   Most people want that.

   1. (collective, definite or construct, derogatory) 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

      Antonyms: خَاصَّة (ḵāṣṣa, “the few; the clergy; the elite”), فَلَاسِفَة (falāsifa, “the philosophers”), عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ, “the theologians; the clergy; the sages”), مُثَقَّفُون (muṯaqqafūn, “the educated and cultured; the intellegentsia”)

      دَعْكَ مِنَ اَلْعَامَّةِ ― daʕka mina l-ʕāmmati ― Ignore the many.

      رَاَيْتُ عَامَّةَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَخَوَاصَّهُمْ

      raaytu ʕāmmata n-nāsi waḵawāṣṣahum

      I saw the commoners and the intellectuals

      عَوَامّ الشَّعْبِ ― ʕawāmm aš-šaʕbi ― the [unlearned] laymen of the people

   2. (collective, definite or construct, derogatory) the people or sects thought to be like the laity in their simple-mindedness, ignorance, or numerousness; simpletons

      اَلْعَامَّة مِنَ الْمُتَفَلْسِفَة

      al-ʕāmma(t) mina l-mutafalsifa

      the simpletons among the would-be philosophers

2. (countable, rare) a raft

عَامَّةً • (ʕāmmatan)

1. generally

   Synonym: عُمُومًا (ʕumūman)

   Antonym: خَاصَّةً (ḵāṣṣatan, “especially”)

2. altogether, entirely

   Synonym: جَمِيعًا (jamīʕan, “together; all”)

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 اَلْخَاصَة (al-ḵāṣa, “the theologically and/or philosophically erudite; the occultists”); with اَلْفَلَاسِفَة (al-falāsifa, “the philosophers”); and, more recently, with اَلْمُثَقَّفُون (al-muṯaqqafūn, “the intelligentsia”). By analogy, the word is very commonly found in sectarian polemics, where it centralizes the purported affectation of knowledge of the ideological rivals.

عَامَّة • (ʕāmma) f

1. feminine singular of عَامّ (ʕāmm)

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “عامة”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “عامة”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎, London: W.H. Allen