Explanation

To generalize is to use specific examples to make broader points. Generalizing makes large points, though they aren't always necessarily true. When someone says "in general" they're talking about what things are like in the big picture or overall. Similarly, generalizing takes small examples and uses them to make bigger points. Saying that all teens are selfish because you know a few selfish teens is generalizing. Saying all adults are uptight is an example of generalizing. Unfortunately, generalizing can be dangerous. Stereotyping is a form of generalizing. Sometimes it’s better to stick to specific examples and to avoid generalizing.

Vocabulary lists containing generalize

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We the People: Gen

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"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman

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See Examples For:

I don’t mean to generalize, but as people age, it’s not unusual for them to undergo behavioral changes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

If we back up, you can’t generalize with every single race that the nonincumbent is going to win.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

As David Hume observed, empirical science depends on induction: We generalize from what has been observed to what hasn’t.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

My own purchase is not the case to generalize from.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

Third, experimentation involves both a study of the external world and a capacity to generalize.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

"People miss information when they follow an algorithm, but they think what they do know generalizes to other features and other parts of the environment that they've never experienced," Turner said.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2025

If Hu and his colleagues can show this behavior generalizes to other materials, he says, physicists may have to revise established models for environments such as outer space or planetary interiors, including Earth's.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 28, 2023

Another clear pitfall of the Pace approach is that it generalizes calories burnt.

From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2022

“Outlier II” involves an A.I.-generated melody that generalizes over time, gradually losing nuance before being disrupted by a series of chance-based improvisations.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022

As a moral declaration the old truism seems perfectly true, and yet because it abstracts, because it generalizes, I can’t believe it with my stomach.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

“I think people could use help that is generalized, that sort of goes outside something that’s so specific and prescriptive.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Injuries sufficient to support standing must be concrete and particularized, not generalized grievances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The good news is, per Gifford, that there are less generalized models out there that are tailored to much more exacting needs.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

The team also used generalized estimating equation models to examine how cardiovascular factors were related to changes in cognition.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

Beginning in the late ninth or early tenth century a.d., public monuments in Chichen Itza deemphasized the king, changing from official narratives of regal actions to generalized, nontextual images of religion, commerce, and war.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

It requires a model capable of generalizing or learning to reason, rather than pattern matching.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025

He found that Mirai did, outperforming traditional models while also generalizing better to minority patients.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2025

"Due to limited evidence from multi-decade long-term observation, synthesizing several direct observations is essential for generalizing dynamic ecological patterns," adds Hisano.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024

I might be generalizing and telling the story a little simply right now, but that's why there's so much cheese.

From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2024

It was engineers such as de Caus who, by generalizing the concept of a moving mechanism, made the clockwork universe and the mechanical man possible.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton