generality

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Universal reference

Nouns

1. generality, generalization, abstraction, sweeping generalization or statement; universality, currency, broadness, collectivity; average; catholicity, catholicism; miscellany, miscellaneousness; prevalence; dispersion.Informal, dime a dozen.

2. everyone, everybody [and his or her brother or sister], every last man or woman, every man jack, every mother's son, every Tom, Dick, and Harry; all hands, all the world and his wife [or brother, etc. ]; anybody; world community. Informal, whole kit and caboodle. Slang, the works.

Verbs — be general, prevail, be going about; generalize.

Adjectives — general, generic, collective, current; broad, comprehensive, extensive, sweeping; encyclopedic, widespread, dispersed; universal, catholic, common, all-inclusive, worldwide, global; ecumenical; transcendental; prevalent, prevailing, rife, epidemic, besetting; all over, covered with; every, each and every, every single or last, all; unspecified, impersonal; indiscriminate; customary (see habit).

Adverbs — generally, in general, generally speaking, on an average; always, for better or worse; for the most part, by and large, on the whole, in the main; in the long run; whatever, whatsoever; everywhere, wherever; to a man, one and all, all told. Informal, across the board.

Phrases — a rising tide lifts all boats; all roads lead to Rome; what everybody says must be true.

Quotations — General notions are generally wrong (Lady Mary Montagu).

Antonyms, see speciality.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. abstraction, generalization, indefinite statement, general statement, vague statement, sweeping statement, loose statement, half-truth, simplistic statement, observation, universality, principle; see also cliché , law 4 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

generalization, loose statement, broad statement, sweeping statement, abstraction.