adjective
-
lost in thought; preoccupied
-
taken out or separated; extracted
Synonym Usage
See absent-minded.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abstracted
Explanation
If you're abstracted, you're preoccupied with thoughts other than what's going on around you. An abstracted person on the bus might forget to get off at her stop. When your abstracted friend doesn't answer your repeated questions, it's not just because he's not listening — his mind is absorbed by heavy thoughts or worries that make him inattentive. Being distracted is similar, but abstracted implies that it's something inside you that's pulling your attention away, rather than a TV screen, the smell of nachos, or the sound of laughter. Abstracted is from the Latin root abstractus, "drawn away."
Vocabulary lists containing abstracted
"The Minister's Black Veil," Vocabulary from the short story
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Absent
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Brown’s dreamlike visions of the climate and uniquely structured scenes—often with barely there foregrounds that emphasize the abstracted weather surrounding them—owe much to his mentor Ray Yoshida, as well as to Joseph Yoakum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Apps themselves might be abstracted away as smartphone agents call online services directly on behalf of their users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Perhaps I had joined the ranks of the global internet proletariat, hammering clicks on the abstracted factory floor of the future?
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2025
He added that the exemption that allows farmers to take up to 20,000 litres a day without a licence meant no-one could be sure how much water was being abstracted by farms across England.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
He stood abstracted for a moment, then became aimlessly mobile.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
