GENERALIZE


Meaning of GENERALIZE in English

(~s, generalizing, ~d)

Note: in BRIT, also use 'generalise'

1.

If you ~, 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’...

It’s hard to ~ about Cole Porter because he wrote so many great songs that were so varied.

VERB: V, V prep

2.

If you ~ 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 label to other animals that look like it.

VERB: V n across/to n

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .