abstract
[adjective ab-strakt, ab-strakt; noun ab-strakt; verb ab-strakt for 10–13, ab-strakt for 14]
- thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.
- expressing a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object or instance, as justice, poverty, and speed.
- theoretical; not applied or practical: abstract science.
- difficult to understand; abstruse: abstract speculations.
- Fine Arts.
- of or relating to the formal aspect of art, emphasizing lines, colors, generalized or geometrical forms, etc., especially with reference to their relationship to one another.
- (often initial capital letter)pertaining to the nonrepresentational art styles of the 20th century.
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- a summary of a text, scientific article, document, speech, etc.; epitome.
- something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.
- an idea or term considered apart from some material basis or object.
- an abstract work of art.
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- to draw or take away; remove.
- to divert or draw away the attention of.
- to steal.
- to consider as a general quality or characteristic apart from specific objects or instances: to abstract the notions of time, space, and matter.
- to make an abstract of; summarize.
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- abstract away from, to omit from consideration.
- in the abstract, without reference to a specific object or instance; in theory: beauty in the abstract.
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Origin of abstract
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for abstractly
Contemporary Examples
What do you think it is, abstractly, that makes this period so absorbing?
Historical Examples
Abstractly it is no more important than the other odd thousand we work with.
The K-FactorHarry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)
We must distinguish between the abstractly typical and the universal.
The Gate of AppreciationCarleton Noyes
"Abstractly, I of course agree with you," he said haltingly.
Planet of the DamnedHarry Harrison
Put thus broadly and abstractly, the answer must be negative.
The Analysis of MindBertrand Russell
Our hero did not believe in brandy, abstractly or concretely.
Little BobtailOliver Optic
abstract
- having no reference to material objects or specific examples; not concrete
- not applied or practical; theoretical
- hard to understand; recondite; abstruse
- denoting art characterized by geometric, formalized, or otherwise nonrepresentational qualities
- defined in terms of its formal propertiesan abstract machine
- philosophy (of an idea) functioning for some empiricists as the meaning of a general termthe word ``man'' does not name all men but the abstract idea of manhood
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- a condensed version of a piece of writing, speech, etc; summary
- an abstract term or idea
- an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
- in the abstract without reference to specific circumstances or practical experience
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- to think of (a quality or concept) generally without reference to a specific example; regard theoretically
- to form (a general idea) by abstraction
- (ˈæbstrækt) (also intr) to summarize or epitomize
- to remove or extract
- euphemistic to steal
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Word Origin
C14: (in the sense: extracted): from Latin abstractus drawn off, removed from (something specific), from abs- ab- 1 + trahere to draw
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for abstractly
abstract
n.
"abridgement or summary of a document," mid-15c., from abstract (adj.). The general sense of "a smaller quantity containing the virtue or power of a greater" [Johnson] is recorded from 1560s.
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abstract
v.
1540s, from Latin abstractus or else from the adjective abstract. Related: Abstracted; abstracting, abstractedly.
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abstract
adj.
late 14c., originally in grammar (of nouns), from Latin abstractus "drawn away," past participle of abstrahere "to drag away; detach divert," from ab(s)- "away" (see ab-) + trahere "draw" (see tract (n.1)).
Meaning "withdrawn or separated from material objects or practical matters" is from mid-15c. That of "difficult to understand, abstruse" is from c.1400. Specifically in reference to modern art, it dates from 1914; abstract expressionism as an American-based uninhibited approach to art exemplified by Jackson Pollack is from 1952, but the term itself had been used in the 1920s of Kandinsky and others.
Oswald Herzog, in an article on "Der Abstrakte Expressionismus" (Sturm, heft 50, 1919) gives us a statement which with equal felicity may be applied to the artistic attitude of the Dadaists. "Abstract Expressionism is perfect Expressionism," he writes. "It is pure creation. It casts spiritual processes into a corporeal mould. It does not borrow objects from the real world; it creates its own objects .... The abstract reveals the will of the artist; it becomes expression. ..." [William A. Drake, "The Life and Deeds of Dada," 1922]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
abstract
(ăb-străkt′, ăb′străkt′)- Considered apart from concrete existence.
- Not applied or practical; theoretical.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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