The phrase "a universal definition" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you are attempting to describe a concept or idea that applies universally or to all cases. For example: The concept of human rights has a universal definition that transcends cultures, religions, and countries.
I am not arguing here for abandoning a universal definition, just for a more truly universally grounded and methodical one.
And anyway, legal scholars say, it is exceedingly difficult to devise a universal definition of hate speech.
Despite the increasing importance of trade secrets to world economies, there is no global law on trade secrets, or even a universal definition of a trade secret.
But we can at least acknowledge that we need to understand the relationship between secularism and secularisation more clearly before we can build a universal definition of secularism.
"Unfortunately, there is neither a universal definition of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) nor publicly available list of such drugs for researchers to work from," a spokesman said.
Beliefs such as these caution anthropologists against narrow biogenetic explanations for the incest taboo and pose severe impediments to a universal definition.
Mark Richardson: a universal definition isn't our main concern – the definition debate has been going on at least since I started my first social enterprise 15 years ago and we still haven't reached an agreement!
Without a universal definition of urban sprawl, its quantification and modeling is difficult.
It appears rather complicated to give a universal definition of the concept of informality.
World leaders will be taking the first steps toward a universal definition of "cyber war," and how to wage it legally, at the Munich Security Conference later today.
Because there are many different viewpoints on what constitutes the proper values to seek in companies, it is difficult to provide a universal definition of SRI.
