glittering generality

American  

[glit-er-ing jen-uh-ral-i-tee] / ˈglɪt ər ɪŋ ˌdʒɛn əˈræl ɪ ti /

noun

1. a word or phrase that is used primarily to appeal to a person's emotions and values.

   They used glittering generalities like “freedom,” “civilization,” and “democracy” to boost support for the movement without talking about how to achieve those lofty goals.

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Etymology

Origin of glittering generality

First recorded in 1845–50

Example Sentences

In its center was a battered, weather kiosk, and facing it, was a huge electric advertisement which indulged in the glittering generality, that "You get what you pay for."

From Calvary Alley by Rice, Alice Caldwell Hegan

To interrogate a glittering generality is to slur its projector; she wished her hearers to be dazzled, not moved to the impertinence of cross-examination.

From The Second Generation by Phillips, David Graham

You might as well think of loving a glittering generality like "the American woman."

From Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness by Van Dyke, Henry

Feeling small, at best, is a kind of glittering generality.

From The Voice of the Machines An Introduction to the Twentieth Century by Lee, Gerald Stanley

At that time the language of our friend was but a glittering generality, for there were very many who could not be styled sovereigns in any sense of the term.

From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady