generalities

plural of generality
1
as in notions
an idea or statement about all of the members of a group or all the instances of a situation the idea that all boys are naturally messy is a gross generality

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
3

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of generalities Ingram advises people to move beyond generalities and define their values with precision, then rank them. Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026 Carl eventually proposed some generalities. Thomas Chatterton Williams, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026 Too often, political coverage avoids difficult questions entirely or allows politicians to speak in vague generalities without scrutiny. Letters To The Editor, Oc Register, 15 May 2026 But moving beyond these generalities to specifics is hard, says Thomas Timberlake, an ecologist at the University of York. Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 6 May 2026 Enough with the vague generalities. Jon Root Outkick, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2026 Be specific Too many job ads read like form letters, full of generalities and corporate-speak. Kat Boogaard, CNBC, 15 Apr. 2026 Even questions about his rehab were met with vague generalities. Brody Miller, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2026 In following her to this point, however, this long-game project gives remarkable dimension and particularity to the kind of migrant story often only told in journalistic generalities — showing, year on year, how time heals some wounds, opens others, and creates plenty of its own. Guy Lodge, Variety, 24 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for generalities
Noun
  • Similar to the original film, Elle learns to leave behind some of the preconceived notions that her rich upbringing gave her and embrace authenticity.
    Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2026
  • Enlightenment figures, such as John Locke, also advanced notions of separation of church and state.
    Steven K. Green, The Conversation, 2 July 2026
Noun
  • Full-body workouts can be completed at home by using your weights on both your ankles and your wrists to perform lower- and upper-body exercises.
    BestReviews, Mercury News, 29 June 2026
  • Second, the sample was weighted using energy balancing, which finds weights by minimizing the energy distance — a statistical measure of the difference between two multivariate distributions — between the survey and the target population.
    New York Times, New York Times, 29 June 2026
Noun
  • The messaging effort comes as Republicans scramble to hold onto threadbare congressional majorities in the November midterms.
    Steven Sloan, Fortune, 2 July 2026
  • Strong majorities of all ages agree the United States needs a strong military, should spread freedom and democracy, and engage with the world to promote Americans’ economic standing.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 1 July 2026
Noun
  • What bothers me is the foot-dragging, the spinning in circles, the slow degradation of these characters into annoying stereotypes.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
  • Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith’s screenplay is littered with exaggerated stereotypes just waiting to be boisterously subverted.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 29 June 2026
Noun
  • Hours later, as the bodies of the children were being handed over to their families, scenes of anguish unfolded outside hospitals and in the neighborhood on the outskirts of Lahore where the private tutoring center was located in a house.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 1 July 2026
  • Further, will sport governing bodies award national competitions to states like California, who do not protect females?
    Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026
Noun
  • Plus, Euclid can switch between zoning and planning, creating renders of future concepts, like new buildings or bike lanes.
    Jennifer Castenson, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
  • In the middle of Paris’ intense heat wave, both incorporated water into their show concepts, creating immersive experiences that felt not only visually striking but also emotionally and physically connected to the moment.
    Rhonda Richford, Footwear News, 29 June 2026
Noun
  • Narrow tree cores – the diameter of a pencil – have been pulled from some of the planet’s oldest trees.
    Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 28 June 2026
  • But Becerra remained the clear Democratic favorite in South County, in the urban cores of Escondido and San Marcos, as well as most of Vista and Oceanside.
    Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 June 2026
Noun
  • Thus, the cisgendered body and heterosexuality are a dynamic instead of a foundation to our conceptions of Black motherhood.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
  • Users could compare the two and get a window into their own conceptions of the game.
    Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 2 June 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Generalities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/generalities. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on generalities

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster