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abstract
[ adjective ab-strakt, ab-strakt; noun ab-strakt; verb ab-strakt ab-strakt ]
adjective
- 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.
- not applied or practical; theoretical:
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 Abstract. pertaining to the nonrepresentational art styles of the 20th century.
noun
- 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.
abstract
adjective
- 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 properties
an abstract machine
- philosophy (of an idea) functioning for some empiricists as the meaning of a general term
the word ``man'' does not name all men but the abstract idea of manhood
noun
- a condensed version of a piece of writing, speech, etc; summary
- an abstract term or idea
- an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
- in the abstractwithout reference to specific circumstances or practical experience
verb
- 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
Other Words From
- ab·stract·er noun
- ab·stract·ly adverb
- ab·stract·ness noun
- non·ab·stract adjective noun
- non·ab·stract·ly adverb
- non·ab·stract·ness noun
- o·ver·ab·stract verb (used with object) adjective
- pre·ab·stract adjective
- su·per·ab·stract adjective
- su·per·ab·stract·ly adverb
- su·per·ab·stract·ness noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of abstract1
Idioms and Phrases
- abstract away from, to omit from consideration.
- in the abstract, without reference to a specific object or instance; in theory:
beauty in the abstract.
Example Sentences
In a pursuit whose meaning and purpose is abstract at the best of times, that’s not nothing.
“Our models can validate thousands of unseen candidates in seconds,” the study’s authors wrote in the abstract to their paper, which appears in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It also makes it more real and concrete, rather than abstract.
The same applies in fields of biology dealing with more abstract concepts of the individual — entities that emerge as distinct patterns within larger schemes of behavior or activity.
The Ising model represents one of the simplest places in this abstract “theory space,” and so serves as a proving ground for developing novel tools for exploring uncharted territory.
These matters are not mere threats to abstract constitutional principles.
Do you think that as we get older our thoughts shift to the more abstract, the music, than the definite, the lyrics?
To listeners, Adnan is a real human while Jay remains an abstract figure.
In the mindset of the Coexist camp, those abstract beliefs have become twisted things, wrapped up with hate.
“There will be flashbacks to that day, but I think it will be a reasonably abstract performance,” Berger said.
This work is now lost, and we know it only by the abstract given by Photius in the passage quoted.
If you are thinking of making an Abstract of a particular book, awaken the utmost interest in regard to it before you begin.
Any other work of which an Abstract is published will serve the student as well as the above.
Three things are required: To learn how to abstract; To make one, at least, such abstract; and To learn it when made.
He never made any attempt to learn the abstract science of war, and until stirred by danger his character seemed to slumber.
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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.
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