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.

---

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• abstractional
  adjective
• abstractive
  adjective
• abstractively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• abstractions
  plural

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

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

Yet well into the 20th century, both pagan and Christian Celtic abstraction was considered to be merely decorative and inferior to classical representation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

There are Supreme Court cases that arrive draped in abstraction.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026

A Defra spokesperson said £2bn of water company investment had been secured over five years to restore chalk streams as well as upgrading the abstraction licensing system.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

He knows that democracy is not an abstraction.

From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2026

On the one hand, there was perspective painting, grounded in geometrical abstraction; on the other, the printing of engraved plates, supplemented by text produced on a printing press.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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

It creates abstractions of the real world that allow it to assess the outcomes of actions.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Like Homer’s, Mr. Armitage’s gods are not distant abstractions but present projections of human failings, embodiments of forces we struggle to name even after 40 centuries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Power and policy are not abstractions — they impact real people’s bodies, minds and lives, and they affect the well-being of the larger community.

From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2026

Her paintings feel organic to me, like breathing abstractions of color.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García