一いち概がいに

い

ち

が

い

に

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

adverb

sweepingly; unconditionally; as a rule

Used almost exclusively in negative contexts (一概に～ない) to mean 'cannot be generalized' or 'not necessarily'. It warns against making a blanket statement.

一いち概がいに悪わるいとは言いえない

。

You can't say it's unconditionally bad.

値ね段だんが高たかいからといって、一いち概がいに品ひん質しつが良よいとは限かぎらない。

Just because it's expensive doesn't necessarily mean the quality is good.

Usage patterns

一いち概がいに〈事こと〉とは言いえないyou can't simply say that ~ (it depends)
値ね段だんが高たかいからといって、品ひん質しつが良いいとは一いち概がいに言いえない。
Just because something is expensive doesn't necessarily mean the quality is good.
一いち概がいに〈物もの〉を決きめつけるto make a blanket judgment about something
国くにによって文ぶん化かが違ちがうので、一いち概がいにどちらが正ただしいと決きめつけることはできない。
Cultures differ from country to country, so you can't simply decide which one is right.

Kanji

一one, one radical (no.1)
概outline, condition, approximation

Related words

必かならずしもN3
必ずしも and 一概に both pair with negatives to mean 'not necessarily', but 必ずしも focuses on logical necessity while 一概に stresses that a blanket generalization is unfair or inaccurate.
一いち律りつに
一律に describes applying the same rule or treatment uniformly to everyone, while 一概に is almost always used negatively to warn against making such a uniform judgment.
あながちN1
一概に is used to reject sweeping generalizations ('you can't say X across the board'), whereas あながち softens denial of a specific claim.

Etymology

Compound of 一 (one) and 概 (outline, generally), literally 'in one general way'. The negative usage pattern developed from the idea of not being able to cover everything with a single generalization.