tar with the same brush
Judge all alike
To tar with the same brush is to treat different people or things as equally guilty or flawed based on a shared characteristic, ignoring individual differences.
The phrase evokes coating everything with the same black tar—no distinctions made: Critics tar all politicians with the same brush, assuming they're all corrupt.
Usually implies unfair generalization.
- pigeonholeClassify too rigidly
- overgeneralizationUnwarranted broad application
- defameHarm reputation falsely
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
- labelIdentifying attachment or marker
denigrate · condemn · prejudice · taint · bias · snap judgment · rush to judgment · birds of a feather · profiling · collective blame · scapegoating · bad apple · lump together · disparage · malign · groupthink · slander · assumption
tar with the same brushdifferentiate
Identify differences between things
distinguish · separate the wheat from the chaff · particularize · nuance
brush, brushing, brushed, brushes, tarmac, tarred, tarring, brushwork, brushlike