# abstract

Pronunciation: US say "ab-STRAKT" /ˌæbˈstɹækt/; UK say "AB-strakt" /ˈæbˌstɹækt/

## Adjective

1. 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.
   - Simple: Art, music, or dance that does not show real things or tell a story, using only shapes, colors, sounds, or movement.
   - _His later work grew increasingly abstract, dissolving figures into pure color._
   - _The gallery specializes in abstract canvases from the 1950s._
2. Existing as an idea or concept rather than as a concrete, physical thing.
   - Simple: Existing only as an idea, not as a real thing you can touch.
   - _Justice is an abstract concept that different cultures define in different ways._
   - _Her early poems wrestle with abstract themes like memory and loss._
4. Theoretical and general rather than applied to actual cases or particular things; removed from practice and concrete fact.
   - Simple: Talking about ideas in general, not real examples or facts.
   - _Her argument remained abstract, never engaging with the messy facts of the case._
   - _Economists sometimes work with abstract models far removed from real markets._
5. Difficult to understand; hard to grasp or conceptualize.
   - Simple: Hard to understand because it deals with deep or unclear ideas.
   - _The lecture grew so abstract that half the audience lost the thread._
   - _Quantum theory can seem hopelessly abstract to newcomers._
6. Referring to a class or group of things in general, rather than to any one particular object.
   - Simple: Talking about a whole group of things, not one special thing.
   - _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._
12. In grammar, of a noun: naming a quality, idea, or state rather than a physical object, place, or person.
   - Simple: In grammar, an abstract noun names an idea or quality, like 'courage' or 'whiteness', not a thing you can touch.
   - _'Courage' and 'beauty' are abstract nouns naming qualities rather than things._
   - _The grammar test asked students to circle every abstract noun._
14. Serving as a partial basis from which subclasses derive, rather than a complete template that can itself be turned into objects.
   - Simple: Used as a base for other classes, but not able to make objects on its own.
   - _The base class is abstract, so developers must extend it before creating any objects._
   - _An abstract class defines shared methods that its concrete subclasses are required to implement._

## Noun

Pronunciation: say "AB-strakt" /ˈæbˌstɹækt/

3. A short summary of a longer publication, giving its main points.
   - Simple: A short summary of a longer report, paper, or book.
   - _The journal requires an abstract of no more than 250 words._
   - _She skimmed the abstract to decide whether the study was relevant._
13. A work of art that uses shapes, colors, and forms rather than depicting recognizable subjects.
   - Simple: A piece of art that shows shapes and colors instead of real things.
   - _He hung a bold abstract above the fireplace._
   - _The collector paid a fortune for an early abstract by the artist._
7. An idea or general concept, or the theoretical view of something, considered apart from real, practical instances; chiefly in 'in the abstract'.
   - Simple: An idea thought about in general, not as a real thing. Usually 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._
15. A summarized record of the key documents and transactions establishing ownership of a tract of land.
   - Simple: A short legal summary of who has owned a piece of land over time.
   - _The title company prepared an abstract showing every transfer of the parcel since 1890._
   - _Before closing, the attorney reviewed the abstract for any gaps in the chain of ownership._

## Verb

Pronunciation: say "ab-STRAKT" US /ˌæbˈstɹækt/, UK /æbˈstɹækt/

8. To summarize or condense a longer work into its main points.
   - Simple: To make a short summary of a longer piece of writing.
   - _The intern was asked to abstract each article for the database._
   - _Editors abstract lengthy studies so busy readers grasp the findings._
9. To produce an abstraction by separating reusable functionality, typically by refactoring existing code into a more general form.
   - Simple: To pull a repeated piece of code into a separate part that can be reused.
   - _The developer abstracted the database calls out into a single helper class._
   - _Good engineers abstract whenever duplicated logic starts to spread across files._
10. To create abstractions in art, reducing observed subjects to their formal elements of line, color, and shape.
   - Simple: To make art that uses shapes and colors instead of showing real things.
   - _Mondrian gradually abstracted the tree until only lines and rectangles remained._
   - _Many modern artists choose to abstract rather than depict their subjects directly._
11. To remove, separate, or take something away from something else; to withdraw or extract it.
   - Simple: To take something out of or away from something else.
   - _In the reaction, the base abstracts a proton from the acid._
   - _Companies need a permit to abstract groundwater from the aquifer._
16. To consider a quality or idea apart from particular things, forming a general concept from individual instances.
   - Simple: To pull a general idea out of particular examples and think about it on its own.
   - _Philosophers abstract the notion of justice from particular laws and examine it independently._
   - _To abstract beauty from any single object is to treat it as a general idea._
17. To withdraw oneself from company or surroundings; to retire into seclusion or one's own thoughts.
   - Simple: To pull yourself away from other people or from what is around you.
   - _Even at the crowded dinner table, he seemed to abstract himself from the company, answering only when someone pressed him._
   - _After her husband died, she abstracted herself from society, receiving few visitors and rarely leaving the house._
18. To take something away without permission; to steal or remove it secretly.
   - Simple: To take something without permission, or to steal it.
   - _A dishonest clerk could easily abstract a few bills from the cash box._
   - _He had abstracted documents from the archive before anyone noticed._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To draw off someone's interest or attention; to divert it.
- (noun) A thing that concentrates within itself the qualities of a larger item, or of several items at once.
- (noun) A concentrated essence drawn from a product, holding its qualities in a reduced form.
- (noun) A powdered solid preparation made by mixing the concentrated extract of a medicinal substance with lactose.
- (adjective) Taken or drawn out from some other source.
- (adjective) Set apart or withdrawn from something, and kept distinct from it.
- (adjective) Lost in thought and not paying attention to what is happening nearby.
- (verb) To draw off the essence of a substance by heating it and collecting the vapor.

## Origin

Latin abstrahō ("draw away"), made of abs- ("away") and trahō ("to pull, draw"), had the past participle abstractus. Middle English borrowed this as abstract, and the verb sense is first recorded in 1542.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/abstract (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).