English Explanatory Dictionary

abstract

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
  2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
  3. Concentrated essence of a product.
  4. A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
  5. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
  6. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
  7. An abstract work of art.
  8. A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.
adj
  1. Derived; extracted.
  2. Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
  3. Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.
  4. Insufficiently factual.
  5. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
  6. As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
  7. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.
  8. Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.
  9. 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.
  10. Absent-minded.
  11. Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.
  12. Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20ᵗʰ century.
verb
  1. To separate; to disengage.
  2. To remove; to take away; withdraw.
  3. To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
  4. To extract by means of distillation.
  5. To draw off (interest or attention).
  6. To withdraw oneself; to retire.
  7. To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.
  8. 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.
  9. To perform the process of abstraction.
  10. To create abstractions.
  11. To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
  12. To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.

Pronunciation

/ˈæbˌstɹækt/ /ˌæbˈstɹækt/ /əbˈstɹækt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-abstract (noun).wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-abstract (verb).wav

Word forms

abstract abstracts more abstract abstracter most abstract abstractest abstracting abstracted no-table-tags glossary abstractedst abstracteth

Etymology

From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.

Synonyms

abridgment compendium epitome synopsis conceptual ideal imaginary incorporeal intangible nonempirical theoretical formal abstruse attributive ascriptive general generalized generic nonspecific representational remove separate take away withdraw filch purloin steal abridge epitomize summarize

Antonyms

actual concrete corporeal empirical applied practical discrete specific particular precise

Related words

reify abstraction abstractive abstractum

Derived words

abstract of title abstract algebra abstract analytic number theory abstract art abstract class abstract data type abstract expressionism abstract expressionist abstract factory class abstract factory pattern abstract harmonic analysis abstract idea abstractification abstractify abstractization abstractize abstract language abstractly abstract method abstract model abstract music abstractness abstract nonsense abstract noun abstract number abstract numbers abstract plane abstract polytope abstract publication abstract term abstract terms abstract type abstract universal abstract verb autoabstract in the abstract microabstract nonabstract overabstract reabstract semiabstract superabstract typestract unabstract abstractable abstract away from abstracted abstracter abstractor

Translations

Catalan: xifra Dutch: essentie Finnish: aineellistuma Hindi: निचोड Indonesian: abstrak Indonesian: sari Norwegian Bokmål: sammenfatning Romanian: concentrat Romanian: esență Dutch: algemeen Finnish: yleinen French: abstrait Japanese: 抽象的 Norwegian Bokmål: generell Norwegian Bokmål: abstrakt Portuguese: abstrato Bulgarian: отделям Bulgarian: отнемам Dutch: afzonderen Dutch: abstraheren Finnish: eristää Finnish: erottaa Finnish: tuumia French: abstraire German: trennen German: abstrahieren Greek: αποσπώ Greek: διαχωρίζω Hindi: अलग करना Hindi: निकाल देना Hindi: अमूर्तरूपसे लेना Indonesian: mengabstrakkan Italian: rimuovere Italian: sottrarre Italian: estrarre Japanese: 取る Latvian: atšķirt Latvian: nošķirt Marathi: वेगळे करणे Marathi: काढून टाकणे Marathi: अमूर्तपणे घेणे Norwegian Bokmål: separere Norwegian Bokmål: fundere Norwegian Bokmål: spekulere Norwegian Bokmål: filosofere Polish: odciągać Polish: odciągnąć Portuguese: abstrair Portuguese: retirar Quechua: llulmiy Spanish: abstraer Spanish: retirar Swedish: abstrahera Swedish: skilja av Swedish: skilja ut Swedish: ta bort Armenian: աբստրահել Esperanto: abstrakti Hungarian: absztrahál Persian: انتزاعیدن Yiddish: אַבסטראַהירן
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