Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. The wide body of information that a person acquires from education and from life; not all of it has practical use
WordNet
n. knowledge that is available to anyone [syn: public knowledge]
Wikipedia
General knowledge has been defined in differential psychology as "culturally valued knowledge communicated by a range of non-specialist media" and encompassing a wide subject range. This definition excludes highly specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General knowledge is an important component of crystallized intelligence and is strongly associated with general intelligence, and with openness to experience.
Studies have found that people who are highly knowledgeable in a particular domain tend to be knowledgeable in many. General knowledge is thought to be supported by long-term semantic memory ability.
A number of studies have found that males tend to have greater general knowledge than females, perhaps due to gender differences in interests rather than memory ability. Recent studies have found that general knowledge is associated with exam performance in schoolchildren and proofreading skills.
Usage examples of "general knowledge".
So while I usually had a general knowledge of this compartment and that compartment, I made no attempt to be really knowledgeable about it and, therefore, just less involved security-wise.
He had a general knowledge of everything and a specific skill in cajoling experts to work together, and when it came to serving as an interface-one of the bright new words-between private industry and government, he was a genius.
Since the plague, he had lived in constant fear that his role might become general knowledge.
Gimme a sextant and a good radar and I'll set you down any place on the Moon you like, without cracking an almanac or a star table, just from a general knowledge of the relative speeds involved.