abstract

Noun

abstract (plural abstracts)

1. An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
   1. Concentrated essence of a product.
   2. (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
3. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
4. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
5. (art) An abstract work of art.
6. (real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

Adjective

abstract (comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest)

1. (obsolete) Derived; extracted.
2. (now rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
3. Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.
   • Synonyms: conceptual, ideal, imaginary, incorporeal, intangible, nonempirical, theoretical
   • Antonyms: actual, concrete, corporeal, empirical
   • Her new film is an abstract piece, combining elements of magic realism, flashbacks, and animation but with very little in terms of plot construction.
   1. Insufficiently factual.
      • Synonym: formal
   2. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
      • Synonyms: conceptual, theoretical
      • Antonyms: applied, practical
   3. (grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
4. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.
   • The politician gave a somewhat abstract answer when asked about their plans to cut spending.
   • Synonym: abstruse
5. Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.
   • Synonyms: attributive, ascriptive
6. 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.
   • Synonyms: general, generalized, generic, nonspecific, representational
   • Antonyms: discrete, specific, particular, precise
7. (archaic) Absent-minded.
8. (art) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.
   1. (art, often capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20^th century.
   2. (music) Absolute.
   3. (dance) Lacking a story.
9. (object-oriented programming, of a class) Being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

Verb

abstract (third-person singular simple present abstracts, present participle abstracting, simple past and past participle abstracted)

1. (transitive) To separate; to disengage.
2. (transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw.
3. (transitive, euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
4. (transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.
5. 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.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To extract by means of distillation.
7. (transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.
8. (intransitive, reflexive, literally, figuratively) To withdraw oneself; to retire.
9. (transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).
   • He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
10. (intransitive, rare) To perform the process of abstraction.
11. (intransitive, fine arts) To create abstractions.
12. (intransitive, computing) To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
    • He abstracted out the square root function.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɑpˈstrɑkt/
• Hyphenation: ab‧stract

Adjective

abstract (comparative abstracter, superlative abstractst)

1. abstract
2. (art) abstract
   • Antonym: figuratief

Alternative forms

• abstracte

Pronunciation

• IPA: /abˈstrakt(ə)/

Adjective

abstract (Late Middle English, rare)

1. Drawn away or out of; detached:
   1. Excerpted; quoted from another text.
   2. Out of one's mind or detached from reality; temporarily insane.
   3. Having been (pulled or moved) above the ground.
   4. Barely comprehensible; hard to read.
   5. (grammar) Abstract (of a noun).

Noun

abstract

1. (Late Middle English, rare) abstract, synopsis

Pronunciation

• IPA: /abˈstrakt/, [apˈstrakt]

Adjective

abstract m or n (feminine singular abstractă, masculine plural abstracți, feminine and neuter plural abstracte)

1. abstract
   • Antonym: concret

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈəbstrak(t)/

Noun

abstract (plural abstracts)

1. abstract

Adjective

abstract (comparative mair abstract, superlative maist abstract)

1. abstract

Verb

abstract (third-person singular simple present abstracts, present participle abstractin, simple past abstractit, past participle abstractit)

1. abstract