Ubiquitous

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Grammarist

Ubiquitous is a word that many people find confusing. We will examine the definition of the word ubiquitous, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Ubiquitous describes something that is global, universal, may be encountered everywhere, is pervasive or ever-present. Something that is ubiquitous may actually be present everywhere or simply seem to be present everywhere. Ubiquitous is an adjective, the adverb form is ubiquitously and the noun form is ubiquitousness or ubiquity. The word ubiquitous is often used today in the term ubiquitous computing or ubicomp, which is a concept that describes computing occuring everywhere and in any device, not simply in a desktop computer. The word ubiquitous dates from the early 1800s, though its earlier form, ubiquitary, dates back to the early 1600s. The word ubiquitous is derived from the Latin word ubiquitas, from the Latin word ubique which means everywhere.

Examples

These confidentiality agreements have become a ubiquitous legal tool for purposes both controversial and benign, such as protecting trade secrets or confidential financial information. (The Los Angeles Times)

In a study published recently in Science, Swiss researchers found that neonicotinoids are ubiquitous—they analyzed 198 honey samples from all over the world and found at least one kind of neonicotinoid in 75 percent of the samples, and at least four in ten percent of the honey. (Popular Science Magazine)

A big one I’ve heard from a lot of people, including my own family, is lamenting that in an age of near ubiquitous multi-car ownership in families, almost everyone who evacuated did so in only one vehicle, leaving the other to its fate in the flames. (The Windsor Times)