GENERALISATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does generalisation mean? 

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

1. an idea or conclusion having general application

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

3. reasoning from detailed facts to general principles

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

  Familiarity information: GENERALISATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GENERALISATION (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("generalisation" 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 "generalisation"):

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

Derivation:

generalise (speak or write in generalities)

Sense 2

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 ("generalisation" is a kind of...):

theorisation; theorization (the production or use of theories)

Derivation:

generalise (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Reasoning from detailed facts to general principles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

generalisation; generalization; induction; inductive reasoning

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

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

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 ("generalisation" 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 "generalisation"):

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

Derivation:

generalise (draw from specific cases for more general cases)

 Context examples 

White Fang did not reason it out, did not in his mind make the sharp generalisation that the white gods were more powerful.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He did not know anything about this law, for it was no generalisation of the mind, not a something acquired by experience of the world.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

These were conscious actions, and were the results of his first generalisations upon the world.

(White Fang, by Jack London)