adjective
-
lost in thought; preoccupied
-
taken out or separated; extracted
Synonym Usage
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.
Brown’s dreamlike visions of the climate and uniquely structured scenes—often with barely there foregrounds that emphasize the abstracted weather surrounding them—owe much to his mentor Ray Yoshida, as well as to Joseph Yoakum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
This abstracted wall, hung high in civilian infrastructure and currently invisible, couldn’t come at a more important time.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2025
One might have expected some gesture toward its origins, rather than its cool and highly abstracted references to Harlem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
Think of it as theater as a healing exercise, or simply an abstracted evening with elaborate, vibrant costumes and choreographed drones creating new constellations in the sky.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2025
Locke brushes his hand over the tops of cattails and bulrushes, looking abstracted.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
