ab·stract
(
b-str
kt
,
b
str
kt
)
KEY
ADJECTIVE:
- Considered apart from concrete existence:
an abstract concept.
- Not applied or practical; theoretical. See Synonyms at theoretical.
- Difficult to understand; abstruse:
abstract philosophical problems.
- Thought of or stated without reference to a specific instance:
abstract words like truth and justice.
- Impersonal, as in attitude or views.
- Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation:
abstract painting and sculpture.
NOUN:
(
b
str
kt
)
- A statement summarizing the important points of a text.
- Something abstract.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
ab·stract·ed
,
ab·stract·ing
,
ab·stracts
(
b-str
kt
)
- To take away; remove.
- To remove without permission; filch.
- To consider (a quality, for example) without reference to a particular example or object.
- (bstrkt) To summarize; epitomize.
- To create artistic abstractions of (something else, such as a concrete object or another style):
"The Bauhaus Functionalists were . . . busy unornamenting and abstracting modern architecture, painting and design"
(John Barth).
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Latin
abstractus, past participle of
abstrahere,
to draw away :
abs-, ab-,
away ; see
ab-
1 +
trahere,
to draw
OTHER FORMS:
ab·stracter
(Noun),
ab·stractly
(Adverb),
ab·stractness
(Noun)
