abstract
/ˈæbˌstɹækt/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms abstracts abstracter abstractest abstracting abstracted abstractedst abstracteth
- noun An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
- noun Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
- noun Concentrated essence of a product.
- noun (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
- noun An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
- noun The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
- noun (art) An abstract work of art.
- noun (real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.
- adjective (obsolete) Derived; extracted.
- adjective (now rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
- adjective Not concrete: conceptual, ideal. “Her new film is an abstract piece, combining elements of magic realism, flashbacks, and animation but with very little in terms of plot construction.”
- adjective Insufficiently factual.
- adjective Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
- adjective (grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
- adjective Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize. “The politician gave a somewhat abstract answer when asked about their plans to cut spending.”
- adjective Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.
- verb (transitive) To separate; to disengage.
- verb (transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw.
- verb (transitive, euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To extract by means of distillation.
Synonyms
abridgment compendium epitome synopsis conceptual ideal imaginary incorporeal intangible nonempirical theoretical formal abstruse attributive ascriptive general generalized generic nonspecific representational abstraction outline precis pilfer cabbage purloin pinch snarf swipe hook
Antonyms
actual concrete corporeal empirical applied practical discrete specific particular precise
Etymology
From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Withdraw; separate. [Obs.]
- adjective Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; exiting in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.
- verb To withdraw; to separate; to take away.
- verb To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.
Etymology [L. abstractus, p. p. of abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw. See Trace.]
Etymology [See Abstract, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “abstract”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details