Definition of abstract

< abstinence

abstracted >

ab·stract    (b-strkt, bstrkt) KEY 

ADJECTIVE:

1. Considered apart from concrete existence: an abstract concept.
2. Not applied or practical; theoretical. See Synonyms at theoretical.
3. Difficult to understand; abstruse: abstract philosophical problems.
4. Thought of or stated without reference to a specific instance: abstract words like truth and justice.
5. Impersonal, as in attitude or views.
6. 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:
(bstrkt)

1. A statement summarizing the important points of a text.
2. Something abstract.

TRANSITIVE VERB:
ab·stract·ed, ab·stract·ing, ab·stracts (b-strkt)

1. To take away; remove.
2. To remove without permission; filch.
3. To consider (a quality, for example) without reference to a particular example or object.
4. (bstrkt) To summarize; epitomize.
5. 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).

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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)