一括(ひとくく)り

ひとくくり
noun
one bundle; lumping together; grouping as one
1. one bundle; one group
A physical bundle or group of items tied or gathered together.
髪(かみ)を一括(ひとくく)りにする。
To tie one's hair up in a bundle.
荷物(にもつ)を一括(ひとくく)りにして運(はこ)んだ。
I bundled the luggage together and carried it.
I organized the documents into bundles by type.
2. lumping together; treating as one category
The act of grouping different things together and treating them as if they were the same. Often implies an oversimplification.
全部(ぜんぶ)一括(ひとくく)りにしないでほしい。
I'd prefer you not lump everything together.
It's wrong to lump all young people together.
Even though we lump it all together as 'Japanese cuisine,' it varies completely by region.

Composed of 一(ひと) (one) + 括(くく)り (bundling, tying). Used both literally for physically bundling things and figuratively for categorizing or generalizing. The figurative sense often carries a critical nuance, suggesting that the grouping is too broad or unfair.

Common collocations

  • 一括(ひとくく)りにする: to lump together, to bundle up
  • 一括(ひとくく)りにまとめる: to gather into one group
  • 一括(ひとくく)りに言(い)う: to describe collectively
  • 一括(ひとくく)りにされる: to be lumped together (passive)

Similar words

  • ひとまとめ: gathering together — neutral, without the critical nuance
  • 十把一絡(じっぱひとから)げ: lumping together indiscriminately — more explicitly negative, often used as a set phrase