abstract
abstract
adjective
/ˈæbstrækt/
1​ based on general ideas and not on any particular real person, thing or situation
abstract knowledge/principles
The research shows that pre-school children are capable of thinking in abstract terms.
Abstract principles are no good in this particular situation.
All human beings are capable of thinking in abstract terms.
COMPARE concrete
Collocations
verbs
be
adverb
extremely
fairly
very
2 existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical reality
We may talk of beautiful things but beauty itself is abstract.
Mathematics is an extremely abstract discipline.
Some of the ideas that their legal system is based on are incredibly abstract.
Freedom is more than a purely abstract notion.
3 ​(of art) not representing people or things in a realistic way, but expressing the artist’s ideas about them
the work of American abstract expressionists like Mark Rothko
COMPARE figurative (2), representational
TOPICS Art B2
abstract
noun
/ˈæbstrækt/
1 ​an abstract work of art
Kandinsky’s first pure abstracts are marked by their wild colour.
TOPICS Art C2
2 a short piece of writing containing the main ideas in a document
SYNONYM summary
Abstracts of about 300 words should be submitted to the conference committee who will decide which papers to accept.
This information is supplementary to the abstract of accounts.
Idioms
in the abstract
abstract
verb (abstracts, abstracted, abstracted, abstracting)
/æbˈstrækt/
1 ​abstract something (from something) to remove something from somewhere
She abstracted the main points from the argument.
Their plan is to abstract 8 million gallons of water from the river.
2 ​abstract something (specialist) to make a written summary of a book, etc.
Word Origin
Middle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away’, past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off’.