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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



... Republican members of Parliament, is designedly homely in style, and the magnificence of Milton's diction is still further tamed down by the necessity of resorting to dictation. It is nevertheless a powerful piece of argument, in its own sphere of abstract reason unanswerable, and only questionable in that lower sphere of expediency which Milton disdained. In the following August appeared a sequel with the sarcastic title, "Considerations on the likeliest means to remove Hirelings out of the Church." The recipe is simple and efficacious—cease ...
— Life of John Milton • Richard Garnett
... sort of fairy) had produced a command out of a drawer almost as unexpectedly as in a fairy tale. But a command is an abstract idea, and it seemed a sort of "lesser marvel" till it flashed upon me that it involved the concrete existence ...
— The Shadow-Line - A Confession • Joseph Conrad
... nature, and do not reason upon it; they obey their instinct without thought or philosophy. They know not how to unite the social sentiment with the idea of equality, which they do not possess; this idea being an abstract one. We, on the contrary, starting with the principle that society implies equality, can, by our reasoning faculty, understand and agree with each other in settling our rights; we have even used our judgment to a great extent. But in all this our conscience plays a small part, ...
— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon
... was reason in Tip's contention regarding Weston. Indeed, from Tim's account of events, I could see that the store had very thoroughly threshed out the whole case and that the problem was not one that could be solved by abstract reasoning. There was only one person to solve it, and ...
— The Soldier of the Valley • Nelson Lloyd
... it can be said that these people have in their minds any real abstract idea of number, at all events beyond twenty. Each finger turned down and toe pointed to, in succession, seems to represent to their minds the article (e.g., a pig) which is counted, rather than a step in a process of mental addition. But this is a matter upon ...
— The Mafulu - Mountain People of British New Guinea • Robert W. Williamson


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