Generalisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A concept derived from examining particular instances is referred to as a generalization, which entails making broad statements that encompass multiple specific cases based on shared characteristics
2. The formation of a general statement that applies to various examples, based on identified commonalities, defines generalization as the process of overarching conclusions drawn from individual observations
3. The process of creating a universal rule or idea by observing and connecting individual examples

Etymology: Most of the story here is in the suffix. The base is "general," from Latin "generalis," meaning belonging to a genus or kind, which in turn comes from "genus" (kind, class). By the 1300s English had "general" as an adjective for the whole of a group rather than its parts, and the noun "generalisation" follows the common English pattern of turning an adjective into a noun by adding "-ation," a suffix borrowed through French from Latin "-atio." The word's sense has a more specific history. In English it appears in the 1600s with the meaning of a general notion or conclusion, and by the 1800s it was being used in logic and philosophy for the act of moving from particular cases to a broad rule. That is the sense your definition describes: a wide claim built up from individual examples. The word is a fairly transparent formation, so its meaning has changed little since it became established.

Synonyms: generalization, broadening

Antonyms: specialization