abstraction

American  

[ab-strak-shuhn] / æbˈstræk ʃən /

noun

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

• abstractional adjective
• abstractive adjective
• abstractively adverb

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; abstract -ion

Example Sentences

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

Screwball humor often runs through the pieces; they indulge in abstraction and never skew didactic.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026

If that sounds like a 1997 frat party elevated to political abstraction, fair enough.

From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026

Instead, they argued that intermediate scrutiny requires courts to examine fit, not just at the level of abstraction but as applied to real people.

From Slate • Jan. 14, 2026

Slavery was not an abstraction, an economic force, a counter in the game of world politics—it was the suffering of men and women.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson