n. The formulation of general concepts from specific instances by abstracting common properties.
n. Inductive reasoning from detailed facts to general principles.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. reasoning from detailed facts to general principles
n. the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances
n. an idea or conclusion having general application
n. (psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus
Word Usage
"Suppose I said that I loved the people in India, I should not mean by that that I had any feeling about any individual soul of all those dusky millions, but only that I massed them all together; or made what people call a generalisation of them."