Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense generalizes, present participle generalizing, past tense, past participle generalizedregional note: in BRIT, also use generalise
1. verb
If you generalize, you say something that seems to be true in most situations or for most people, but that may not be completely true in all cases.
'In my day, children were a lot better behaved'.—'It's not true, you're generalizing'. [VERB]
It's hard to generalize about Cole Porter because he wrote so many great songs thatwere so varied. [VERB preposition]
2. verb
If you generalize something such as an idea, you apply it more widely than its original context, as if it was true in many other situations.
A child first labels the household pet cat as a 'cat' and then generalises this labelto other animals that look like it. [VERB noun + to]
[Also VERB noun]
generalize in British English
or generalise (ˈdʒɛnrəˌlaɪz)
verb
1.
to form (general principles or conclusions) from (detailed facts, experience, etc); infer
2. (intransitive)
to think or speak in generalities, esp in a prejudiced way
3. (tr; usually passive)
to cause to become widely used or known
4. (intransitive)(of a disease)
a.
to spread throughout the body
b.
to change from a localized infection or condition to a systemic one
generalized infection
Derived forms
generalizer (ˈgeneralˌizer) or generaliser (ˈgeneralˌiser)
noun
generalize in American English
(ˈdʒɛnərəlˌaɪz; ˈdʒɛnrəlˌaɪz)
verb transitiveWord forms: ˈgeneralˌized or ˈgeneralˌizing
1.
to make general
; esp.,
a.
to state in terms of a general law or precept
b.
to infer or derive (a general law or precept) from (particular instances)
c.
to emphasize the general character rather than specific details of
d.
to cause to be widely known or used; popularize
verb intransitive
2.
to formulate general principles or inferences from particulars
3.
to talk in generalities
4.
to become general or spread throughout a body or area
Derived forms
generalizable (ˌgeneralˈizable)
adjective
Word origin
ME generalisen
Examples of 'generalize' in a sentence
generalize
The correlation is expected to be positive if the factor abundance proposition holds in its generalized form.
Forstner, Helmut, Ballance, Robert Competing in a Global Economy (1990)
In other languages
generalize
British English: generalize /ˈdʒɛnrəˌlaɪz/ VERB
If you generalize, you say something that is usually, but not always, true.
It is impossible to generalize about the state of the country's health.