GENERALIZATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does generalization mean? 

• GENERALIZATION (noun)
  The noun GENERALIZATION has 4 senses:

1. reasoning from detailed facts to general principles

2. an idea or conclusion having general application

3. the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances

4. (psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus

  Familiarity information: GENERALIZATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GENERALIZATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reasoning from detailed facts to general principles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

generalisation; generalization; induction; inductive reasoning

Hypernyms ("generalization" is a kind of...):

colligation (the connection of isolated facts by a general hypothesis)

Derivation:

generalize (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An idea or conclusion having general application

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

generalisation; generality; generalization

Context example:

he spoke in broad generalities

Hypernyms ("generalization" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "generalization"):

principle; rule (a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct)

Derivation:

generalize (speak or write in generalities)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

abstraction; generalisation; generalization

Hypernyms ("generalization" is a kind of...):

theorisation; theorization (the production or use of theories)

Derivation:

generalize (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

generalisation; generalization; stimulus generalisation; stimulus generalization

Hypernyms ("generalization" is a kind of...):

carry-over; transfer; transfer of training (application of a skill learned in one situation to a different but similar situation)

Domain category:

psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "generalization"):

irradiation ((Pavolvian conditioning) the elicitation of a conditioned response by stimulation similar but not identical to the original stimulus)

Derivation:

generalize (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

 Context examples 

A generalization of the Pythagorean theorem to more than two coordinates.

(Euclidean Distance Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

I haven't made even one new generalization on literature or philosophy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A method of generalization, the systematic arrangement of entities into classes or groups based on mutual similarity and certain differing characteristics.

(Classification, NCI Thesaurus)

A data type comprised of a set of consecutive values of an ordered base, which is an abstract generalization for all value data types that have an order relationship.

(Interval Quantity Data Type, NCI Thesaurus)

A discreet probability distribution, which is a generalization of the binomial distribution.

(Multinomial Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)

An instance that does not conform to a rule or generalization.

(Exception, NCI Thesaurus)

Oh, I mean the real interpretative biology, from the ground up, from the laboratory and the test-tube and the vitalized inorganic right on up to the widest aesthetic and sociological generalizations.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He had merely skimmed over the surface of things, observing detached phenomena, accumulating fragments of facts, making superficial little generalizations—and all and everything quite unrelated in a capricious and disorderly world of whim and chance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)