以偏概全

yǐpiāngàiquán
idiom #49,744

Meanings

  1. 1 to take a part for the whole (idiom)
  2. 2 to overgeneralize from a single instance

Examples

Bùnéng yīnwèi yī gè rén jiù yǐpiāngàiquán, shuō suǒyǒu rén dōu zhèyàng.
You can't overgeneralize from one person and say everyone is like this.
Zhè zhǒng yǐpiāngàiquán de jiélùn jīngbuqǐ tuīqiāo.
Such overgeneralized conclusions don't hold up under scrutiny.

Tips

mistakes
Near-synonymous with 断章取义 ('take out of context'), but different: 以偏概全 is a logical error (part → whole), while 断章取义 is selective quotation. Don't swap them.

Stroke Order

piān
gài
quán