好词典

generalize

UK //ˈdʒenrəlaɪz//US //ˈdʒenrəlaɪz//

词源

源自拉丁语 'generalis'(普遍的)+ 后缀 '-ize',最早记录于18世纪,原意为「使具有普遍性」。

verb

❶ 从具体事例中总结出普遍规律或结论,将特定情况扩展为普遍适用的原则。

“It's dangerous to generalize about all politicians based on one bad experience.”

(根据一次糟糕经历就对所有政客下普遍结论是危险的。)

“The study results can't be generalized to the entire population.”

(这项研究结果不能推广到全体人群。)

❶ 使某事物更广泛适用或更普遍化,去除特定限制条件。

“The software update generalized the compatibility across different devices.”

(软件更新使兼容性扩展到更多不同设备。)

“Mathematicians work to generalize specific theorems into broader frameworks.”

(数学家致力于将特定定理推广到更广泛的框架中。)

同义词:universalize, broaden, extrapolate

常见短语

generalize from — 从特定情况推断普遍规律,常用于提醒避免过度推论。

“You can't generalize from such a small sample size.”

(你不能从这么小的样本量得出普遍结论。)

over-generalize — 过度概括,指不考虑例外情况就做出普遍断言。

“It's an over-generalization to say all teenagers are rebellious.”

(说所有青少年都叛逆是过度概括。)