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Abstract   /æbstrˈækt/  /ˈæbstrˌækt/   Listen
adjective
Abstract  adj.  
1.
Withdraw; separate. (Obs.) "The more abstract... we are from the body."
2.
Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.
3.
(Logic)
(a)
Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word.
(b)
Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, "reptile" is an abstract or general name. "A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression "abstract name" to all names which are the result of abstraction and generalization, and consequently to all general names, instead of confining it to the names of attributes."
4.
Abstracted; absent in mind. "Abstract, as in a trance."
An abstract idea (Metaph.), an idea separated from a complex object, or from other ideas which naturally accompany it; as the solidity of marble when contemplated apart from its color or figure.
Abstract terms, those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of similar qualities.
Abstract numbers (Math.), numbers used without application to things, as 6, 8, 10; but when applied to any thing, as 6 feet, 10 men, they become concrete.
Abstract mathematics or Pure mathematics. See Mathematics.


noun
Abstract  n.  
1.
That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief. "An abstract of every treatise he had read." "Man, the abstract Of all perfection, which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modeled."
2.
A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.
3.
An abstract term. "The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety.""
4.
(Med.) A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with lactose in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.
Abstract of title (Law), a document which provides a summary of the history of ownership of a parcel of real estate, including the conveyances and mortgages; also called brief of title.
Synonyms: Abridgment; compendium; epitome; synopsis. See Abridgment.


verb
Abstract  v. t.  (past & past part. abstracted; pres. part. abstracting)  
1.
To withdraw; to separate; to take away. "He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices."
2.
To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects. "The young stranger had been abstracted and silent."
3.
To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.
4.
To epitomize; to abridge.
5.
To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till. "Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness."
6.
(Chem.) To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.


Abstract  v. t.  To perform the process of abstraction. (R.) "I own myself able to abstract in one sense."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Abstract" Quotes from Famous Books



... has been said, some builders worked imaginatively, imitating in the round naves of a few churches the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre. Other instances of devout imitation might be found, if we looked for them. But the imitation of a concrete model is a different thing from translating abstract mysteries into the plan and elevation of a building. And, although the ground plan with nave, transepts, and chancel, certainly forms a cross; and, although, as time went on, the resemblance to the chief symbol of the Christian ...
— The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church • A. Hamilton Thompson
... n't vote for him because he is a warrior, Aminadab," argued the other; "thee votes for him as a tariff man and an encourager of home industry. I don't like his wars and fightings better than thee does; but I'm told he's an honest man, and that he disapproves of war in the abstract, although he has been brought up to the business. If thee feels tender about the matter, I don't like to urge thee; but it really seems to me thee had better vote. Times have been rather hard, thou knows; and if by voting at this election we can make business matters easier, I don't see ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier
... The deep feelings which stirred the spirits of those who participated in the scenes of the Revolution, on the recurrence of the anniversary, warm not the hearts of their children. With them the Declaration of Independence was a great, and ever-present reality; with us it is only a glorious abstract idea. We are in the midst of the fruition of their faith and earnest aspirations; and, surrounded by the noon-tide radiance of the blessings which have resulted from that act, we can not appreciate the glory of the morning star of our destiny as a nation. Let us henceforth ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various
... few and evil days (two years, nine weeks) did not run out in that house; the music-master was generally admired and esteemed; and the merry Christmas of concerts and lemonade-parties is simply another sample of the brilliant historian's mode of turning the abstract into the concrete in such a manner as to degrade or elevate at will. An Italian concert is not a merry meeting; and a lemonade-party, I presume, is a party where (instead of eau-sucree as at Paris) the refreshment handed about is ...
— Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.) • Mrs. Hester Lynch Piozzi
... things definable, or in modern language abstract ideas, as the only universals, but prior to these he established those principles productive of science which essentially reside in the soul, as is evident from his Phaedrus and Phaedo. In the 10th book of the Republic too, he venerates those ...
— Introduction to the Philosophy and Writings of Plato • Thomas Taylor


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