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definitions

abstracted

[ab-strak-tid]
See more synonyms for abstracted on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. lost in thought; deeply engrossed or preoccupied.

Origin of abstracted

First recorded in 1605–15; abstract + -ed2
Related formsab·stract·ed·ly, adverbab·stract·ed·ness, nounnon·ab·stract·ed, adjectivenon·ab·stract·ed·ly, adverbnon·ab·stract·ed·ness, nounun·ab·stract·ed, adjectiveun·ab·stract·ed·ly, adverbun·ab·stract·ed·ness, noun

Synonym study

See absent-minded.

abstract

[adjective ab-strakt, ab-strakt; noun ab-strakt; verb ab-strakt for 10–13, ab-strakt for 14]
adjective
  1. thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.
  2. expressing a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object or instance, as justice, poverty, and speed.
  3. theoretical; not applied or practical: abstract science.
  4. difficult to understand; abstruse: abstract speculations.
  5. Fine Arts.
    1. 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.
    2. (often initial capital letter)pertaining to the nonrepresentational art styles of the 20th century.
noun
  1. a summary of a text, scientific article, document, speech, etc.; epitome.
  2. something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.
  3. an idea or term considered apart from some material basis or object.
  4. an abstract work of art.
verb (used with object)
  1. to draw or take away; remove.
  2. to divert or draw away the attention of.
  3. to steal.
  4. to consider as a general quality or characteristic apart from specific objects or instances: to abstract the notions of time, space, and matter.
  5. to make an abstract of; summarize.
Idioms
  1. abstract away from, to omit from consideration.
  2. in the abstract, without reference to a specific object or instance; in theory: beauty in the abstract.

Origin of abstract

1400–50; late Middle English: withdrawn from worldly interests < Latin abstractus drawn off (past participle of abstrahere). See abs-, tract1
Related formsab·stract·er, nounab·stract·ly, adverbab·stract·ness, nounnon·ab·stract, adjective, nounnon·ab·stract·ly, adverbnon·ab·stract·ness, nouno·ver·ab·stract, verb (used with object), adjectivepre·ab·stract, adjectivesu·per·ab·stract, adjectivesu·per·ab·stract·ly, adverbsu·per·ab·stract·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for abstracted

withdrawn, absent-minded, inattentive, remote

Examples from the Web for abstracted

Contemporary Examples of abstracted

Historical Examples of abstracted

  • He is silent and abstracted, like one just returned from the cave of Trophonius.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Ossipon sat rigid, with the abstracted gaze of mental travail.

    The Secret Agent

    Joseph Conrad

  • Mary looked up at him with that abstracted gaze with which we weigh and judge.

    Tiverton Tales

    Alice Brown

  • Had it been abstracted while the letter was still in his office?

    The Channings

    Mrs. Henry Wood

  • I understood, abstracted four of the five kittens, and disappeared.

    Concerning Cats

    Helen M. Winslow

British Dictionary definitions for abstracted

abstracted

adjective
  1. lost in thought; preoccupied
  2. taken out or separated; extracted
Derived Formsabstractedly, adverbabstractedness, noun

abstract

adjective (ˈæbstrækt)
  1. having no reference to material objects or specific examples; not concrete
  2. not applied or practical; theoretical
  3. hard to understand; recondite; abstruse
  4. denoting art characterized by geometric, formalized, or otherwise nonrepresentational qualities
  5. defined in terms of its formal propertiesan abstract machine
  6. philosophy (of an idea) functioning for some empiricists as the meaning of a general termthe word ``man'' does not name all men but the abstract idea of manhood
noun (ˈæbstrækt)
  1. a condensed version of a piece of writing, speech, etc; summary
  2. an abstract term or idea
  3. an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
  4. in the abstract without reference to specific circumstances or practical experience
verb (æbˈstrækt) (tr)
  1. to think of (a quality or concept) generally without reference to a specific example; regard theoretically
  2. to form (a general idea) by abstraction
  3. (ˈæbstrækt) (also intr) to summarize or epitomize
  4. to remove or extract
  5. euphemistic to steal

Word Origin for abstract

C14: (in the sense: extracted): from Latin abstractus drawn off, removed from (something specific), from abs- ab- 1 + trahere to draw
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for abstracted

abstract

n.

"abridgement or summary of a document," mid-15c., from abstract (adj.). The general sense of "a smaller quantity containing the virtue or power of a greater" [Johnson] is recorded from 1560s.

abstract

v.

1540s, from Latin abstractus or else from the adjective abstract. Related: Abstracted; abstracting, abstractedly.

abstract

adj.

late 14c., originally in grammar (of nouns), from Latin abstractus "drawn away," past participle of abstrahere "to drag away; detach divert," from ab(s)- "away" (see ab-) + trahere "draw" (see tract (n.1)).

Meaning "withdrawn or separated from material objects or practical matters" is from mid-15c. That of "difficult to understand, abstruse" is from c.1400. Specifically in reference to modern art, it dates from 1914; abstract expressionism as an American-based uninhibited approach to art exemplified by Jackson Pollack is from 1952, but the term itself had been used in the 1920s of Kandinsky and others.

Oswald Herzog, in an article on "Der Abstrakte Expressionismus" (Sturm, heft 50, 1919) gives us a statement which with equal felicity may be applied to the artistic attitude of the Dadaists. "Abstract Expressionism is perfect Expressionism," he writes. "It is pure creation. It casts spiritual processes into a corporeal mould. It does not borrow objects from the real world; it creates its own objects .... The abstract reveals the will of the artist; it becomes expression. ..." [William A. Drake, "The Life and Deeds of Dada," 1922]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
abstracted in Medicine

abstract

[ăb-străkt′, ăb′străkt′]
adj.
  1. Considered apart from concrete existence.
  2. Not applied or practical; theoretical.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.