abstract

Pluralabstracts

Formsabstracts, abstracting, abstracted

1. 1
   modern style (art)adjective

   Of art, music, or dance: not representing recognizable objects or telling a story, but using shape, color, form, sound, or movement for its own sake.

   His later work grew increasingly abstract, dissolving figures into pure color.

   The gallery specializes in abstract canvases from the 1950s.

   UsageCommon in abstract art and abstract painting. It takes degree words: very abstract, more and more abstract.

   Similarnonrepresentational, nonfigurative

   Oppositerepresentational, figurative, realistic

   Note

   Aldous Huxley's Crome Yellow (1921) catches the drive behind the style in a painter who is "getting more and more abstract every day." He has given up the third dimension, is thinking of giving up the second, and expects that soon there will be "just the blank canvas." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Aldous Huxley wrote Crome Yellow, first published in 1921. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quotation is exact; Mary speaks these words about the painter Tschuplitski in chapter XII. gutenberg.org
   • Mary reports that Tschuplitski has abandoned the third dimension, is considering abandoning the second, and anticipates a blank canvas. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   intangibleadjective

   Existing as an idea or concept rather than as a concrete, physical thing.

   Justice is an abstract concept that different cultures define in different ways.

   Her early poems wrestle with abstract themes like memory and loss.

   UsageThe usual opposite is concrete: abstract ideas, concrete examples. More abstract is the usual comparative.

   Similarconceptual, theoretical, intangible, incorporeal

   Oppositeconcrete, actual, empirical, corporeal

3. 3
   a summarynouncountable

   A short summary of a longer publication, giving its main points.

   The journal requires an abstract of no more than 250 words.

   She skimmed the abstract to decide whether the study was relevant.

   Similarsummary, synopsis, digest, outline

   Note

   The scholar's summary sits at the head of a paper so readers can judge its relevance before reading the whole: purpose, methods, principal findings. The habit is old. Isaac Watts, in The Improvement of the Mind (1741), praises a reader able to give "a tolerable analysis and abstract of every treatise" he had read. Making one is the verb for summarizing.

4. 4
   pure theoryadjective

   Theoretical and general rather than applied to actual cases or particular things; removed from practice and concrete fact.

   Her argument remained abstract, never engaging with the messy facts of the case.

   Economists sometimes work with abstract models far removed from real markets.

   UsageCommon in in abstract terms. Its opposites here are applied, practical and concrete.

   Oppositeconcrete, practical, applied, specific

   Note

   Nicholas Walker, writing on Habermas in 1999, ranges academic areas from history and social science to "the more abstract domains." The comparative there measures distance from practice, not difficulty. For difficulty, see the "hard to grasp" meaning. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Nicholas Walker wrote the cited discussion of Habermas in a work published in 1999. en.wiktionary.org
   • Walker describes academic areas ranging from history and social science to "the more abstract domains." en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   hard to understandadjective

   Difficult to understand; hard to grasp or conceptualize.

   The lecture grew so abstract that half the audience lost the thread.

   Quantum theory can seem hopelessly abstract to newcomers.

   UsageOften used critically with degree words: too abstract, hopelessly abstract.

   Similarabstruse

   Oppositeclear, accessible, concrete

   Note

   Here the word stops describing and starts complaining: what is cut off from the concrete becomes hard to hold onto. Abstract blames the distance from anything you can picture, which is why a vague or evasive answer from a politician earns the label. The meaning grows out of the 'not concrete' sense.

6. 6
   not specificadjective

   Referring to a class or group of things in general, rather than to any one particular object.

   She argued in abstract terms, meaning every triangle rather than the one drawn on the board.

   Legal rules are stated in abstract form so they apply to many cases.

   Similargeneral, generic, nonspecific, generalized

   Oppositespecific, particular, precise, discrete

   Note

   Here the word means general: it covers a whole class rather than any one member. Mill, in the same passage where he defines the abstract name, notes a broader practice that "has grown up in more modern times" and "gained currency" from Locke's example. The empiricist question behind it, how general ideas come from experience, is the subject of Stephen Laurence and Eric Margolis's Abstraction and the Origin of General Ideas (2012). Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • John Stuart Mill defines an abstract name in the passage discussing the broader application of that expression to general names. gutenberg.org
   • Mill uses the quoted wording and attributes the broader practice's currency chiefly to Locke's example. gutenberg.org
   • Stephen Laurence and Eric Margolis published Abstraction and the Origin of General Ideas in 2012. margolisphilosophy.com
   • The paper examines the empiricist question of how general ideas originate in experience. margolisphilosophy.com
7. 7
   in theorynoununcountable

   An idea or general concept, or the theoretical view of something, considered apart from real, practical instances; chiefly in 'in the abstract'.

   He lives in the abstract, indifferent to the practical details around him.

   The proposal makes sense in the abstract but ignores local conditions.

   UsageOften set against practice: fine in the abstract but hard in practice.

   Similartheory

   Oppositeconcrete

8. 8
   summarizeverbtransitive

   To summarize or condense a longer work into its main points.

   The intern was asked to abstract each article for the database.

   Editors abstract lengthy studies so busy readers grasp the findings.

   Similarsummarize, condense, abridge, digest

   Oppositeexpand, elaborate

9. 9
   factor outverbtransitive or intransitive

   To produce an abstraction by separating reusable functionality, typically by refactoring existing code into a more general form.

   The developer abstracted the database calls out into a single helper class.

   Good engineers abstract whenever duplicated logic starts to spread across files.

   UsageOften abstract something out or away: abstracted out the database calls.

   Similarrefactor, extract, factor, generalize, encapsulate

   Note

   The move pulls repeated logic into one general function, interface or module that the rest of the program relies on. Callers then depend on that general piece rather than on the details beneath it. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Extracting repeated logic into a shared function is an established refactoring operation. arxiv.org
   • An abstraction lets callers rely on an interface while its implementation changes. handbook.eng.kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu
10. 10
    simplify (art)verbtransitive or intransitive

    To create abstractions in art, reducing observed subjects to their formal elements of line, color, and shape.

    Mondrian gradually abstracted the tree until only lines and rectangles remained.

    Many modern artists choose to abstract rather than depict their subjects directly.

    Similarstylize, simplify, reduce, distill

    Oppositerepresent, depict

11. 11
    extractverbtransitive

    To remove, separate, or take something away from something else; to withdraw or extract it.

    In the reaction, the base abstracts a proton from the acid.

    Companies need a permit to abstract groundwater from the aquifer.

    UsageUsually abstract something from something: abstract water from a river.

    Similarextract, remove, withdraw, separate

    Note

    Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak (1823) shows it in the participle: no opinion "abstracted from his own prejudices." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Walter Scott wrote Peveril of the Peak. gutenberg.org
    • The first-edition title page is dated 1822. Actual publication was on 7 January 1823, so 1823 is correct as the release year but differs from the title-page year requested here. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
    • The novel uses “abstracted from his own prejudices” of forming an opinion. gutenberg.org

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