Meaning & use
blanket statement
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Meaning
nouncountabledisapproving
A sweeping claim that treats every case as the same and ignores differences or exceptions.
Grammar: Takes a plural: one blanket statement, several blanket statements.
Patterns
- make a blanket statement about something
Saying all teenagers are lazy is a blanket statement that no teacher would accept.
I don't want to make a blanket statement, but most of the reviews were positive.
The article was full of blanket statements with no evidence behind them.
Word forms
| plural | blanket statements |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a blanket statement
- It's unfair to make a blanket statement about an entire town.
- sweeping blanket statement
- He gave a sweeping blanket statement about all politicians.
- avoid blanket statements
- Good writers avoid blanket statements and give specific examples.
- blanket statement about
- A blanket statement about food prices hides big regional differences.
- dismiss a blanket statement
- The judge dismissed the blanket statement as unsupported.
Synonyms and how they differ
- generalization
- Generalization is a neutral term that can be fair or careless, while a blanket statement almost always sounds too broad.
- sweeping statement
- Sweeping statement means nearly the same and is slightly more common in British English.
- stereotype
- A stereotype is a fixed idea about a group of people, whereas a blanket statement can be about anything.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: blanket statement or blanket ban?
blanket statement vs blanket ban
A blanket ban is a rule that applies to everyone without exception; a blanket statement is a claim, not a rule.
Practice
Which sentence contains a blanket statement?
Choose one answer.
Claiming that everyone hates the line covers every case without exception. The other sentences are limited or factual.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “blanket statement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.