abstract

Fetched 2026-10-27 (live).

Synonyms: abstrict, obstruct, attract, distract, astrict, substract, adstrict, abstracts, acetract, abstracta, austrac

Antonyms: abstrict, obstruct, attract, distract, astrict, substract, adstrict, abstracts, acetract, abstracta, austrac

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. An abridgement or summary of a longer publication. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items. Concentrated essence of a product. A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
3. Concentrated essence of a product.
4. A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
5. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.
6. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
7. An abstract work of art.
8. A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

Adjective

1. Derived; extracted.
2. Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
3. Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.
   • Her new film is an abstract piece, combining elements of magic realism, flashbacks, and animation but with very little in terms of plot construction.
4. Insufficiently factual.
5. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
6. As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
7. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.
   • The politician gave a somewhat abstract answer when asked about their plans to cut spending.
8. Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.
9. Pertaining comprehensively to, or representing, a class or group of objects, as opposed to any specific object; considered apart from any application to a particular object: general, generic, nonspecific; representational.
10. Absent-minded.
11. Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them. Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20 century. Absolute. Lacking a story.
12. Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20 century.
13. Absolute.
14. Lacking a story.
15. Being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

Verb

1. To separate; to disengage. To remove; to take away; withdraw. To steal; to take away; to remove without permission. To extract by means of distillation. To draw off (interest or attention).
   • He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
   • He abstracted out the square root function.
2. To remove; to take away; withdraw.
3. To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
4. To extract by means of distillation.
5. To draw off (interest or attention).
   • He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
6. To withdraw oneself; to retire.
7. To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality. To conceptualize an ideal subgroup by means of the generalization of an attribute, as follows: by apprehending an attribute inherent to one individual, then separating that attribute and contemplating it by itself, then conceiving of that attribute as a general quality, then despecifying that conceived quality with respect to several or many individuals, and by then ideating a group composed of those individuals perceived to possess said quality. To perform the process of abstraction. To create abstractions. To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
   • He abstracted out the square root function.
8. To conceptualize an ideal subgroup by means of the generalization of an attribute, as follows: by apprehending an attribute inherent to one individual, then separating that attribute and contemplating it by itself, then conceiving of that attribute as a general quality, then despecifying that conceived quality with respect to several or many individuals, and by then ideating a group composed of those individuals perceived to possess said quality.
9. To perform the process of abstraction.
10. To create abstractions.
11. To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
    • He abstracted out the square root function.
12. To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.