generalize

American  

[jen-er-uh-lahyz] / ˈdʒɛn ər əˌlaɪz /

especially British, generalise

verb (used with object)

generalized, generalizing

1. to infer (a general principle, trend, etc.) from particular facts, statistics, or the like.

2. to infer or form (a general principle, opinion, conclusion, etc.) from only a few facts, examples, or the like.

3. to give a general rather than a specific or special character or form to.

4. to make general; bring into general use or knowledge.

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verb (used without object)

generalized, generalizing

1. to form general principles, opinions, etc.

2. to deal, think, or speak in generalities.

3. to make general inferences.

generalize British  

/ ˈdʒɛnrəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to form (general principles or conclusions) from (detailed facts, experience, etc); infer

2. (intr) to think or speak in generalities, esp in a prejudiced way

3. (tr; usually passive) to cause to become widely used or known

4. (intr)

   1. to spread throughout the body

   2. to change from a localized infection or condition to a systemic one

      generalized infection

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Other Word Forms

• generalizable adjective
• generalizer noun
• nongeneralized adjective
• ungeneralized adjective
• ungeneralizing adjective

Etymology

Origin of generalize

First recorded in 1745–55; general + -ize

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.

Example Sentences

"Keeping it in flatter parts of the landscape, where lots of solutions perform similarly well, turns out to be what allows these models to generalize."

From Science Daily • Jan. 15, 2026

Courts need not generalize from sports to other educational contexts.

From Slate • Jan. 14, 2026

“These specialized architectures can be excellent in narrow slices of inference, but they don’t generalize well to the kind of workloads the frontier is converging on.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

AI models may perform well on the data they’re trained on, but “really the proof of the value of it is, does it generalize to an external population?” he noted.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 11, 2025

While it never pays to generalize, those who appear not to be the most computer literate often rely on keeping old- fashioned notes so that they don’t forget stuff like user names and passwords.

From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben