abstract
IPA: æbstrˈækt
noun
- An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
- Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
- Concentrated essence of a product.
- (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
- An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
- The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
- (art) An abstract work of art.
- (real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.
verb
- (transitive) To separate; to disengage.
- (transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw.
- (transitive, euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
- (transitive, obsolete) To extract by means of distillation.
- (transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).
- (intransitive, reflexive, literally, figuratively) To withdraw oneself; to retire.
- (transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.
- To conceptualize an ideal subgroup by means of the generalization of an attribute, as follows: by apprehending an attribute inherent to one individual, then separating that attribute and contemplating it by itself, then conceiving of that attribute as a general quality, then despecifying that conceived quality with respect to several or many individuals, and by then ideating a group composed of those individuals perceived to possess said quality.
- (intransitive, rare) To perform the process of abstraction.
- (intransitive, fine arts) To create abstractions.
- (intransitive, computing) To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
- (transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.
adjective
- (obsolete) Derived; extracted.
- (now rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
- Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.
- Insufficiently factual.
- Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
- (grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
- Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.
- Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.
- Pertaining comprehensively to, or representing, a class or group of objects, as opposed to any specific object; considered apart from any application to a particular object: general, generic, nonspecific; representational.
- (archaic) Absent-minded.
- (art) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.
- (art, often capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20ᵗʰ century.
- (music) Absolute.
- (dance) Lacking a story.
- (object-oriented programming, of a class) Being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.
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Examples of "abstract" in Sentences
- The idea was abstract.
- The abstract verified the claim.
- The quote is not in the abstract.
- The abstract is part of the paper.
- The abstract states the following.
- A perceivable world is an abstraction.
- It is exactly the words of the abstract.
- The Internet is an intangible abstraction.
- It is in the abstract section of the document.
- The implementation is leaky, not the abstraction.
- Bernard, nothing more than the abstract is available on the net for free.
- The term abstract comes from the Latin word abstractus, which literally means "drawn away".
- The use of the word abstract is not used in a literal manner for example geometric shapes or blocks of colour.
- The journal's web site hasn't been updated to the current issue, so not even the abstract is available at the moment.
- Taking fifteen minutes to review your title abstract and history as well as the plat or a survey of the parcel and then walk the property to verify the information.
- Now the Indian language, although quite sufficient for Indian wants, is poor, and has not the same copiousness as ours, because they do not require the words to explain what we term abstract ideas.
- Now, the Indian language, although quite sufficient for Indian wants, is poor, and has not the same copiousness as ours, because they do not require the words to explain what we term abstract ideas.
- Compassion in the abstract is all well and good -- every sperm is sacred, every child must be born, every life must be saved (well, as long as they have a good lawyer, and that doesn't include the death penalty).
- From these metaphysics, which are mingled with the Scripture to make School divinity, we are told there be in the world certain essences separated from bodies, which they call abstract essences, and substantial forms; for the interpreting of which jargon, there is need of somewhat more than ordinary attention in this place.
- Company's consumer, commercial and other lending businesses; current and future capital management programs; non-interest income levels, including fees from the title abstract subsidiary and banking services as well as product sales; tangible capital generation; market share; expense levels; and other business operations and strategies.