abstract

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.

• Noun:
  • IPA^(key): /ˈæbˌstɹækt/
• Adjective:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæbˌstɹækt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæbˈstɹækt/, /əbˈstɹækt/, /ˈæbˌstɹækt/
• Verb:
  • IPA^(key): /ˌæbˈstɹækt/, /əbˈstɹækt/

abstract (plural abstracts)

1. An abridgement or summary of a longer publication. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?) Isaac Watts

     An abstract of every treatise he had read.

2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?) Ford

     Man, the abstract Of all perfection, which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modeled.

   1. Concentrated essence of a product.
   2. (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.[2]
3. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Stuart Mill

     The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety".

4. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form. [First attested in the early 17^th century.][1]
5. (art) An abstract work of art. [First attested in the early 20^th century.]
6. (real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

• (theoretical way of looking at things): Preceded, typically, by the.

• (statement summarizing the important points of a text): abridgment, compendium, epitome, synopsis

• abstract of title

abstract (comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest)[3]

1. (obsolete) Derived; extracted. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 15^th century.][1]
2. (now rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • 17th century, John Norris (philosopher), The Oxford Dictionary:

     The more abstract we are from the body ... the more fit we shall be to behold divine light.

3. Expressing a property or attribute separately of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
4. Considered apart from any application to a particular object; not concrete; ideal; non-specific; general, as opposed to specific. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • 1843, John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Volume 1, page 34,

     A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. […] A practice, however, 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.

5. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • 1929, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms:

     Abstract words such as glory, honour, courage, or hallow were obscene.

6. (archaic) Absent-minded. [First attested in the early 16^th century.][1]
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     abstract, as in a trance

   • 1922, D. H. Lawrence, Aaron's Rod:

     White and abstract-looking, he sat and ate his dinner.

7. (art) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.][1]
   1. (art, often capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20^th century. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.][1]
   2. (music) Absolute.
   3. (dance) Lacking a story.
8. Insufficiently factual.[3]
9. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
10. (grammar) As a noun, denoting an intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
11. (computing) Of a class in object-oriented programming, being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

• (not applied or practical): conceptual, theoretical
• (insufficiently factual): formal
• (difficult to understand): abstruse

• (not applied or practical): applied, practical
• (considered apart from concrete existence): concrete

• reify

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

1. (transitive) To separate; to disengage. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
   • Walter Scott - He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices.
2. (transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw. [First attested in the late 15^th century.][1]
   • 1834, Harriet Martineau, Illustration of Political Economy, volume IX:

     The lightning of the public burdens, which at present abstract a large proportion of profits and wages.

   • Sir Walter Scott

     He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices.

3. (transitive, euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission. [First attested in the late 15^th century.][1]
   • W. Black - Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness.
   • 1869, Bholanauth Chunder, The Travels of a Hindoo to Various Parts of Bengal and Upper India:

     The inlaid characters in diamond, and other precious stones, have been all abstracted away by the pelf-loving Jaut and Mahratta—leaving the walls defaced with the hollow marks of the chisel.

4. (transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize. [First attested in the late 16^th century.][1]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Franklin to this entry?)

5. (transitive, obsolete) To extract by means of distillation. [Attested from the early 17^th century until the early 18^th century.][1]
   • 1601, John Marston, Antonio's Revenge, Act II, Scene I:

     Poison from roses who could e'er abstract?

6. (transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality. [First attested in the early 17^th century.][1]
   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II:

     To abstract the notions of time, of space, and of matter.

7. (intransitive, reflexive, literally, figuratively) To withdraw oneself; to retire. [First attested in the mid 17^th century.][1]
8. (transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).
   • William Blackwood, Blackwood's Magazine - The young stranger had been abstracted and silent.

   He was wholly abstracted by other objects.

9. (intransitive, rare) To perform the process of abstraction.
   • George Berkeley - I own myself able to abstract in one sense.
10. (intransitive, fine arts) To create abstractions.
11. (intransitive, computing) To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".

    He abstracted out the square root function.

• (to separate or disengage): Followed by the word from.
• (to withdraw oneself): Followed by the word from.
• (to summarize): Pronounced predominantly as /ˈæbˌstrækt/.
• All other senses are pronounced as /æbˈstrækt/.

• (to remove, separate, take away, or withdraw): remove, separate, take away, withdraw
• (to abridge, epitomize, or summarize): abridge, epitomize, summarize
• (to filch, purloin, or steal): filch, purloin, steal

• abstraction
• abstractive
• abstractum

• abstract in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Borrowed from Middle French abstract, from Latin abstractus; cf. English abstract.

• IPA^(key): /ɑpˈstrɑkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ab‧stract
• Rhymes: -ɑkt

abstract (comparative abstracter, superlative abstractst)

1. abstract
2. (art) abstract

• (arts): figuratief

• abstractie

• Afrikaans: abstrak
• → Indonesian: abstrak

• abstracte

From Latin abstractus, from abstrahō.

• IPA^(key): /abˈstrakt(ə)/

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).

• abstraccyone
• abstractif
• abstractly

• English: abstract
• Scots: abstract

• “abstract (ppl.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-24.

abstract

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

• English: abstract
• Scots: abstract

• “abstract (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-24.

Borrowed from Latin abstractus, German Abstrakt.

• IPA^(key): /abˈstrakt/[1]

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

1. abstract

• concret

• IPA^(key): /ˈəbstrak(t)/

abstract (plural abstracts)

1. abstract

abstract (comparative mair abstract, superlative maist abstract)

1. abstract

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

1. abstract