adjective
-
lost in thought; preoccupied
-
taken out or separated; extracted
Related Words
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.
Abstracted as they are, both the mirrored photos and the glass vases reflect female archetypes.
From Washington Post • Nov. 23, 2021
Abstracted, most elements of the modern suit would have been familiar to Napoleon.
From New York Times • Jun. 27, 2017
Abstracted, ruddy and untidy, he now sits at a big desk beside a lofty window which frames two sprawling, dirty vines and a begonia plant, directs the immaculate preservation of more than 100,000 prints.
From Time Magazine Archive
Abstracted from "From Ruwenzori to the Congo" by above author.
From Insects and Diseases A Popular Account of the Way in Which Insects may Spread or Cause some of our Common Diseases by Doane, Rennie Wilbur
Abstracted, contemplative air, A sudden run and stop, A glance indifferent round about, Head poised—another hop.
From Cap and Gown A Treasury of College Verse by Knowles, Frederic Lawrence
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.
