abstract
thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.
expressing a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object or instance, as justice, poverty, and speed.
not applied or practical; theoretical: abstract science.
difficult to understand; abstruse: abstract speculations.
Fine Arts.
of or relating to the formal aspect of art, emphasizing lines, colors, generalized or geometrical forms, etc., especially with reference to their relationship to one another.
Often Abstract . pertaining to the nonrepresentational art styles of the 20th century.
a summary of a text, scientific article, document, speech, etc.; epitome.
something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.
an idea or term considered apart from some material basis or object.
an abstract work of art.
Idioms about abstract
abstract away from, to omit from consideration.
in the abstract, without reference to a specific object or instance; in theory: beauty in the abstract.
Origin of abstract
1Other words from abstract
- ab·stract·er, noun
- ab·stract·ly, adverb
- ab·stract·ness, noun
- non·ab·stract, adjective, noun
- non·ab·stract·ly, adverb
- non·ab·stract·ness, noun
- o·ver·ab·stract, verb (used with object), adjective
- pre·ab·stract, adjective
- su·per·ab·stract, adjective
- su·per·ab·stract·ly, adverb
- su·per·ab·stract·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use abstract in a sentence
Yet Keravuori is indebted to abstract expressionism, which extolled the spontaneous and the immediate.
In the galleries: The Washington colorists and the CIA | Mark Jenkins | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThe patterns also suggested a more abstract and potentially deeper perspective on what particles actually are.
To see whether women were significantly more likely to publish about female bird song than men, we identified all papers with “female song” in the title or abstract that had been published in the last 20 years.
Few people knew female birds had unique songs—until women started studying them | By Omland, Rose & Odom/The Conversation | September 28, 2020 | Popular-ScienceHowever, the patterns capture something more abstract about the memory—what makes a sheep a sheep versus a dog—even when the two animals are learned across separate sessions.
How a Memory Quirk of the Human Brain Can Galvanize AI | Shelly Fan | September 28, 2020 | Singularity HubI had the sense that the abstract things are somehow clearer to me than the more concrete things, because I was just more confident that I was understanding them correctly.
Conducting the Mathematical Orchestra From the Middle | Rachel Crowell | September 2, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
In the next reign he drew up an elaborate plan for abstracting her lucrative carrying trade.
Sir Walter Ralegh | William StebbingWe are always dismissing or neglecting a great part of our impressions, and abstracting and combining among those which we retain.
She was walking slowly and looking down as she went, as if some thought was abstracting her.
In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim | Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Germans were once devils for inhuman theoretic abstracting of living beings.
Sea and Sardinia | D. H. Lawrence"You must have an extraordinary power of abstracting your mind," Bernard said to her, observing it.
Confidence | Henry James
British Dictionary definitions for abstract
having no reference to material objects or specific examples; not concrete
not applied or practical; theoretical
hard to understand; recondite; abstruse
denoting art characterized by geometric, formalized, or otherwise nonrepresentational qualities
defined in terms of its formal properties: an abstract machine
philosophy (of an idea) functioning for some empiricists as the meaning of a general term: the word ``man'' does not name all men but the abstract idea of manhood
a condensed version of a piece of writing, speech, etc; summary
an abstract term or idea
an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
in the abstract without reference to specific circumstances or practical experience
to think of (a quality or concept) generally without reference to a specific example; regard theoretically
to form (a general idea) by abstraction
(ˈæbstrækt) (also intr) to summarize or epitomize
to remove or extract
euphemistic to steal
Origin of abstract
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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