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Definition abstract

Etymology

From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrah? (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trah? (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.

Noun

abstract (plural abstracts)

1. An abridgement or summary of a longer publication. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items. [First attested in the mid 16 century.]
   1. Concentrated essence of a product.
   2. (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
3. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract. [First attested in the mid 16 century.]
4. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form. [First attested in the early 17 century.]
5. (art) An abstract work of art. [First attested in the early 20 century.]
6. (real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

Adjective

abstract (comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest)

1. (obsolete) Derived; extracted. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 15 century.]
2. (now rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
3. Expressing a property or attribute separately of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
4. Considered apart from any application to a particular object; not concrete; ideal; non-specific; general, as opposed to specific. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
5. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
6. (archaic) Absent-minded. [First attested in the early 16 century.]
7. (art) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them. [First attested in the mid 19 century.]
   1. (art, often capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20 century. [First attested in the mid 19 century.]
   2. (music) Absolute.
   3. (dance) Lacking a story.
8. Insufficiently factual.
9. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
10. (grammar) As a noun, denoting an intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
11. (computing) Of a class in object-oriented programming, being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

Verb

abstract (third-person singular simple present abstracts, present participle abstracting, simple past and past participle abstracted)

1. (transitive) To separate; to disengage. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw. [First attested in the late 15 century.]
3. (transitive, euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission. [First attested in the late 15 century.]
4. (transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize. [First attested in the late 16 century.]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To extract by means of distillation. [Attested from the early 17 century until the early 18 century.]
6. (transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality. [First attested in the early 17 century.]
7. (intransitive, reflexive, literally, figuratively) To withdraw oneself; to retire. [First attested in the mid 17 century.]
8. (transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).
9. (intransitive, rare) To perform the process of abstraction.
10. (intransitive, fine arts) To create abstractions.
11. (intransitive, computing) To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".

Results 154 Words with the letters ABSTRACT

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