generalize
verb
Simple meaning
Draw from specific cases for more general cases.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
jehneruhlyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒɛnɚəlaɪz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Draw from specific cases for more general cases
Speak or write in generalities
To speak in generalities, or in vague terms.
To derive or deduce (a general concept or principle) from particular facts.
Become systemic and spread throughout the body
“This kind of infection generalizes throughout the immune system.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Draw from specific cases for more general cases
Used this way, generalize is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Reasoning from detailed facts to general principles.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling or lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than…
Epilepsy in which the attacks involve loss of consciousness and tonic spasms of the musculature followed by generalized jerking.
A seizure during which the patient becomes unconscious and has convulsions over the entire body.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: draw from specific cases for more general cases
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.