إذا حلف لا يشرب الماء فحنث بشرب أدنى قطرة منه.
A person who swears not to drink water can violate the oath by drinking even a very small quantity.
This follows because an instance of the genus water exists in a small quantity as well as a large one. The expression's scope and the conduct that falls within it must be examined separately.
Questions about whether the speaker meant an entire category, a limited amount, or a qualified use may raise issues of intention and the legal rules governing oaths. Intention is not a universally unrestricted device; it must be one that the wording and applicable law can support.
The main point is that a generic expression can apply without requiring the entire quantity of its referents to be realized.