Meanings
present singular third person tars with the same brush · participle present tarring with the same brush · participle past tarred with the same brush · past tarred with the same brush
- figurativelytransitiveTo characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly.
The C Party have tarred themselves with the same brush as the B Party.
5 more examples
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 1We 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 200They 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 52Were 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 308Susan 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 163Synonyms: paint with the same brush, tar with the same stick
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly.
Origin
From tar (“to coat with tar; to besmirch”), in the sense of two or more persons or things being soiled with the same thing.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 一竹篙打沉一船人, 一竹篙打死一船人
- 一竹篙打沉一船人 (jat¹ zuk¹ gou¹ daa² cam⁴ jat¹ syun⁴ jan⁴)to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- 一竹篙打死一船人 (jat¹ zuk¹ gou¹ daa² sei² jat¹ syun⁴ jan⁴)to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- 一竹篙打一船人 (jat¹ zuk¹ gou¹ daa² jat¹ syun⁴ jan⁴)to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Chinese Mandarin 一竿子打翻一船人
- 一竿子打翻一船人 (yī gānzi dǎfān yī chuán rén)to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Dutch over een kam scheren
- over een kam scherento characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Finnish niputtaa yhteen, rinnastaa
- niputtaa yhteento characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- rinnastaato characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
French fourrer dans le même sac, mettre dans le même panier
- fourrer dans le même sacto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- mettre dans le même panierto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- mettre dans le même sacto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
German über einen Kamm scheren
- über einen Kamm scherento characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Italian fare d'ogni erba un fascio
- fare d'ogni erba un fascioto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Norwegian Bokmål skjære alle over én kam
- skjære alle over én kamto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Polish generalizować
- generalizowaćto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Romanian arunca în aceeași oală
- arunca în aceeași oalăto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Russian косить под одну гребёнку
- косить под одну гребёнку (kositʹ pod odnu grebjónku)to characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Spanish meter en el mismo saco
- meter en el mismo sacoto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Swedish dra alla över en kam, skära alla över en kam
- dra alla över en kamto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
- skära alla över en kamto characterize (someone or something) using the same undesirable attribute, especially unjustly
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tar with the same brush
Cite this entry
tar with the same brush. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar%20with%20the%20same%20brush
“tar with the same brush.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar%20with%20the%20same%20brush. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tar with the same brush,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tar%20with%20the%20same%20brush.
Source: tar with the same brush on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.