TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH

When some people in a group behave badly, and others wrongly believe that everyone in the group is guilty of this behaviour, we say that the whole group is tarred with the same brush.

 e.g. “In addition, many providers that provide outstanding care are tarred with the same brush as the exploitative ones.”

“Drivers who have been wronged by a cyclist tar them all with the same brush, and vice versa.


This expression apparently originates from shepherds using tar to cover their sheeps’ wounds to prevent infection [1].

[1] Cresswell, Julia. “tar” In The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press, 2009.