Generalized

How to spell generalized

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce generalized

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does generalized mean?

1. verbDrew a broad conclusion from particular cases, or applied something to a wider range of situations.
2. adjectiveAffecting or spread across a whole area or system rather than being confined to one part.

Generalized in a sentence

• verb

  The researchers generalized their findings to the wider population.

• adjective

  The patient developed a generalized rash that covered the whole body.

• verb

  He generalized from a single bad experience and assumed every supplier was unreliable.

• adjective

  She felt a generalized sense of unease before the interview.

Where does generalized come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun genus, meaning a 'kind', 'class', or 'birth group', the same root that gives us 'genus', 'genre', and 'gender'. From genus came the adjective generalis, meaning 'relating to a whole class or kind' rather than to one individual, which passed through Old French as 'general' and entered English in the medieval period. The verb 'generalize', meaning to make general or to draw a broad conclusion from particular cases, was formed in the 1600s by adding the productive ending -ize, which builds verbs meaning 'to make or render'. The past-tense and participle form 'generalized' then followed naturally with the regular -ed ending. The spelling trap sits in the unstressed middle: the 'er-al-ized' string is easy to slur in speech, so writers can drop or swap letters, and the -ized versus -ised ending varies by dialect convention.

How the word is built

• gener- (kind, class, from Latin genus)
• -al (relating to)
• -ize (to make)
• -ed (past tense/participle)

British and American spelling

Generalized is the American spelling. British English spells it generalised.