Definition of "generalize"

generalize

/ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹə.laɪz/

verb
third-person singular simple present generalizes, present participle generalizing, simple past and past participle generalized
1. To speak in generalities, or in vague terms.
2. To infer or induce from specific cases to more general cases or principles.
  Quotations
  Copernicus generalized the celestial motions by merely referring them to the moon's motion. Newton generalized them still more by referring this last to the motion of a stone through the air.
  1795, William Nicholson, A Dictionary of Chemistry
3. To spread throughout the body and become systemic.
4. To derive or deduce (a general concept or principle) from particular facts.
  Quotations
  A mere conclusion generalized from a great multitude of facts.
  August 24, 1831, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Truth and Maxims