Definition
以偏概全 is a four-character idiom meaning 'to judge the whole based on a part' — it describes the fallacy of taking one limited example or piece of evidence and treating it as representative of everything. You can use it to criticize arguments that overgeneralize from a narrow sample, common in reasoning about people, data, or situations.
idiom
to take a part for the wholeto make a hasty generalization
Examples
- 以偏概全，。Bù néng yīnwèi gèbié rén de xíngwéi jiù yǐ piān gài quán, pīpíng zhěnggè qúntǐ.You shouldn't criticize an entire group just because of a few individuals' behavior — that's taking a part for the whole.
- 以偏概全，。Tā de jiélùn shì jīyú jǐ gè shùjù yǐ piān gài quán dé chū de, bú gòu yánjǐn.His conclusion was reached by overgeneralizing from just a few data points — it's not rigorous enough.
- 以偏概全，。Hěnduō rén duì Zhōngguó wénhuà yǒu yǐ piān gài quán de wùjiě, qíshí bùtóng dìqū chāyì hěn dà.Many people have a 'part-for-the-whole' misunderstanding of Chinese culture; in fact, different regions vary greatly.
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