abstraction

American  

[ab-strak-shuhn] / æbˈstræk ʃən /

noun

• abstractions
  plural

1. an abstract or general idea or term.

2. the act of considering something as a general quality or characteristic, apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.

3. an impractical idea; something visionary and unrealistic.

4. the act of taking away or separating; withdrawal.

   The sensation of cold is due to the abstraction of heat from our bodies.

5. secret removal, especially theft.

6. absent-mindedness; inattention; mental absorption.

7. Fine Arts.

   1. the abstract qualities or characteristics of a work of art.

   2. a work of art, especially a nonrepresentational one, stressing formal relationships.

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abstraction British  

/ æbˈstrækʃən /

noun

1. absence of mind; preoccupation

2. the process of formulating generalized ideas or concepts by extracting common qualities from specific examples

3. an idea or concept formulated in this way

   good and evil are abstractions

4. logic an operator that forms a class name or predicate from any given expression See also lambda calculus

5. an abstract painting, sculpture, etc

6. the act of withdrawing or removing

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• abstractional
  adjective
• abstractive
  adjective
• abstractively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• abstractions
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of abstraction

First recorded in 1540–50; from Late Latin abstractiōn-, stem of abstractiō “separation,” literally, “a drawing off,” from abstract(us) “drawn off” + -iō noun suffix; see abstract -ion

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Explanation

An abstraction is something nonspecific, a concept that isn't concrete. It can also refer to the state of mind in which a person is not paying attention to something but is lost in thought or daydreaming. Abstraction is the noun from the adjective abstract, which derives from the Latin abstrahere "to divert." From that, we can get the idea that an abstraction is something that is drawn away from concrete reality. In the art world, an abstraction is a painting or musical piece created in the style of expressionism, in which a subject is not realistically presented or even recognized, but rather is suggested by an emotional flow of paint or music.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abstraction abstractions

From there, the abstraction moved onto the plate.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

But the murkiness doesn’t last long in a production that achieves an admirable balance between objectivity and emotion, abstraction and representation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

This abstraction turned to subterfuge in the challengers’ briefing before the Supreme Court last month.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026

They understood that functioning markets weren’t an abstraction but rather part of the nation’s confidence, stability and daily life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

What until then had been an abstraction, a mere flirtation with the possibility of death, suddenly materialized before her.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

The lack of recognition, Feldman argues, reverberates through Caland’s heavily impastoed portraits of Moses and her enigmatic late abstractions such as the rectilinear paintings in the “Silent Letter Series.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

For troops’ families, such abstractions, repeated in media discourse, have concrete consequences when their loved ones don’t come home on time.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

First, practice distinguishing between what the Constitution says and what judges and justices say about the Constitution, a document riddled with aspirational vagaries and flexible abstractions.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Across a remarkably varied oeuvre of more than 9,000 small‑ and easel‑scale abstractions, Klee drew deeply from art and nature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

However, there are growing examples in animal research demonstrating that animals do indeed use music, and that monkeys and other animals use musical patterns and can hear abstractions in music as well.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

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