Dictionary entry
generalization
also model generalization or generalisation or out-of-sample generalization
Definition of generalization
-
: a trained model's ability to perform correctly on new data, situations, or tasks that it did not encounter during training rather than merely reproducing patterns from its training examples
- The robot succeeded in the demonstration room but showed poor generalization when the objects were moved to a different kitchen.
- Holding out an independent test set gave the team a better estimate of model generalization.
Two meanings, one word
In everyday English
The act of forming a broad conclusion or rule from particular examples.
In AI
A trained model's ability to perform correctly on new data, situations, or tasks that it did not encounter during training rather than merely reproducing patterns from…
Origin & history
Generalization comes from statistics and learning theory, where a model is useful only if patterns learned from a sample transfer to observations outside that sample. It became a central machine-learning term for the gap between performance on training data and performance on unseen data.
Test yourself
Which of these is the meaning of generalization?
Cite this entry
"Generalization." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/generalization/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.