Dictionary

tar with the same brush en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈtaɹ wɪ‿ðə seɪm ˈbɹʌʃ/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈtaː wɪ‿ðə seɪm ˈbɹʌʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From tar (“to coat with tar; to besmirch”), in the sense of two or more persons or things being soiled with the same thing.

Meanings

1. (figuratively, transitive) To characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly.
   • We may mark that gentleman with black, at all events, said Leandro Perez. We may indeed, replied the Devil; and you may tar his nearest neighbour with the same brush, while you are about it—an original of an auditor, who, because he keeps a carriage, blushes whenever he is obliged to put his foot into a public vehicle. 1841, Alain René Le Sage [i.e., Alain-René Lesage], “The Subject of which is Inexhaustible”, in Joseph Thomas, transl., Asmodeus; or, The Devil on Two Sticks. […], London: Joseph Thomas, […], →OCLC, page 200:
   • I'd say Marvin is still eating his heart out over what happened. You work for Sanders Aero and so that tars you with the same brush. 1964 November, D[aniel] S[tephen] Halacy Jr., “Fire Danger: Extreme”, in Harry A. Harchar, editor, Boys’ Life: The Magazine for All Boys, volume LIV, number 11, New Brunswick, N.J.: Boy Scouts of America, →OCLC, part I, page 57, column 1:
   • There are marked differences between them, and it is terribly important that we as a country not tar all of these people with the same brush. They are very, very much different kinds of countries. 1988 April 21, Olin B. King, “Statement of Olin B. King, Chairman of the Board, SCI Systems, Inc.”, in U.S. Economic Relations with the Asian Newly Industrialized Countries: Hearing before the Subcommittee on International Finance, Trade and Monetary Policy of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, One-hundredth Congress, Second Session […] (Serial No. 100-57), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 17:
   • Susan still persisted in thinking that poets and tramps were tarred with the same brush— […] 1921, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Valley of Decision”, in Rilla of Ingleside, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC, page 163:
   • The merchants of London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Birmingham, were tarred, one and all, with the same brush. 1837 June 10, “Debates and Proceedings in Parliament. [The Currency.]”, in The Spectator: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Literature, and Science, volume X, number 467, London: Joseph Clayton, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 534, column 1:
   • The C Party have tarred themselves with the same brush as the B Party.
   • Were you tarred with the same brush as those canting snobs who doomed a poor old man to a living death? 1900, E[dward] Phillips Oppenheim, chapter XLI, in A Millionaire of Yesterday, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, published 1906, →OCLC, page 308:
   • [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge's third allegation emphasizes the idea of tarring with the same brush: [Francis] Jeffrey, he alleges, is guilty of lumping Coleridge with his friends as well as the dramatist Joanna Baillie: […] 2013, Kim Wheatley, “Coleridge, Jeffrey, and the Edinburgh: Romanticizing ‘Personalities’”, in Romantic Feuds: Transcending the “Age of Personality”, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2016, →ISBN, page 63:
   • They are both tarred with a dirty brush, and I can't have the Fellowships tarred with the same brush. 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Cut Adrift”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 1st book (The Cup and the Lip), page 52:
   • And few would distinguish between state and federal public servants, tarring them with the same brush of disdain. 2008 June 6, Terry Sweetman, “Kevin Rudd’s public service demands nothing new”, in The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Qld.: Queensland Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jun 2013:
   • Place made me think of that I suppose. All tarred with the same brush. Wiping pens in their stockings. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 356:

Forms

Relateds

pigeonhole

Synonyms

tar with the same stick · paint with the same brush

Translations (19)

fr mettre dans le même panier (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · yue 一竹篙打沉一船人 (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · es meter en el mismo saco (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · sv dra alla över en kam (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · pl generalizować (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · ro arunca în aceeași oală (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · yue 一竹篙打死一船人 (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · fi niputtaa yhteen (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · nb skjære alle over én kam (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · sv skära alla över en kam (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · cmn 一竿子打翻一船人 (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · ru косить под одну гребёнку (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · fr fourrer dans le même sac (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · de über einen Kamm scheren (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · fi rinnastaa (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · nl over een kam scheren (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · yue 一竹篙打一船人 (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · fr mettre dans le même sac (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly) · it fare d'ogni erba un fascio (to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly)