abstract
adjective
• existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.
• "abstract concepts such as love or beauty"
Similar:
theoretical,
conceptual,
notional,
intellectual,
metaphysical,
philosophical,
academic,
hypothetical,
speculative,
conjectural,
conjectured,
suppositional,
putative,
suppositious,
suppositive,
ideational,
• relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures.
• "abstract pictures"
abstract
verb
• consider something theoretically or separately from (something else).
• "to abstract science and religion from their historical context can lead to anachronism"
• extract or remove (something).
• "applications to abstract more water from streams"
Similar:
extract,
pump,
draw (off),
tap,
suck,
withdraw,
remove,
take out/away,
separate,
detach,
isolate,
dissociate,
• make a written summary of (an article or book).
• "staff who abstract material for an online database"
Similar:
summarize,
write a summary of,
precis,
abridge,
condense,
compress,
shorten,
cut down,
abbreviate,
synopsize,
epitomize,
abstract
noun
• a summary of the contents of a book, article, or speech.
• "an abstract of her speech"
Similar:
summary,
synopsis,
precis,
résumé,
outline,
recapitulation,
abridgement,
condensation,
digest,
summation,
aperçu,
wrap-up,
argument,
epitome,
conspectus,
Opposite:
complete version,
full text,
• an abstract work of art.
• "a big unframed abstract"
Origin:
Middle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away’, past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off’.
in the abstract
• in a general way; without reference to specific instances.
• "there's a fine line between promoting US business interests in the abstract and promoting specific companies"
