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abstract - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'abstract' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Abstract [ a.]
- Withdraw; separate.
- 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.
- 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.
- Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, "reptile" is an abstract or general name.
- Abstracted; absent in mind.
- To withdraw; to separate; to take away.
- To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.
- To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.
- To epitomize; to abridge.
- To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.
- 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.
- 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.
- A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.
- An abstract term.
- A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.
2 . Abstract [ v. t.]
- To perform the process of abstraction.

Meaning of 'abstract' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . abstract [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance
Example in sentence:
  • he loved her only in the abstract--not in person
2 . abstract [ v]
Meaning (2):
- consider apart from a particular case or instance
Example in sentence:
  • Let's abstract away from this particular example
3 . abstract [ a]
Meaning (3):
- existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment
Example in sentence:
  • abstract words like `truth' and `justice'
4 . abstract [ s]
Meaning (4):
- not representing or imitating external reality or the objects of nature
Example in sentence:
  • a large abstract painting
Meaning (5):
- dealing with a subject in the abstract without practical purpose or intention
Example in sentence:
  • abstract reasoning;
  • abstract science

Nearby Words:

abscess abscesses abscession abscind abscision absciss abscissa abscissae abscissas abscisses

See 'abstract' also in:

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Related Definitions

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  • Abstraction
    Abstraction is one of the features of Object-oriented Programming

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