abstractive

[ab-strak-tiv]

adjective

1. having the power of abstracting.

2. pertaining to an abstract or summary.

Other Word Forms

• abstractively adverb
• abstractiveness noun
• unabstractive adjective
• unabstractively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of abstractive¹

From the Medieval Latin word abstractīvus, dating back to 1480–90. See abstract, -ive

Example Sentences

To-day it is no longer difficult to understand how the divine ideas were born, how they were created in succession by the abstractive faculty of man.

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We have no intuitive insight into their natures; all our knowledge here is abstractive and discursive.

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Two abstractive sets may each cover the other.

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As an instinctive he is below the level; as an abstractive he attains it; as a specialist he rises above it.

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When there is no danger of misunderstanding I shall shorten this phrase by simply saying that the two abstractive sets are ‘equal.’

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