abstract

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: ab=stract

CIDE DICTIONARY

abstract, a. [L. abstractus, p. p. of abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw. See Trace.].

•  Withdraw; separate.  [1913 Webster]

  "The more abstract . . . we are from the body."  [1913 Webster]
•  Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.  [1913 Webster]
•  Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; -- opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word.  Locke.  [1913 Webster]

  "A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression “abstract name” to all names which are the result of abstraction and generalization, and consequently to all general names, instead of confining it to the names of attributes."  [1913 Webster]
•  Abstracted; absent in mind.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

An abstract idea (Metaph.), an idea separated from a complex object, or from other ideas which naturally accompany it; as the solidity of marble when contemplated apart from its color or figure. -- Abstract terms, those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of similar qualities. -- Abstract numbers (Math.), numbers used without application to things, as 6, 8, 10; but when applied to any thing, as 6 feet, 10 men, they become concrete. -- Abstract mathematics or Pure mathematics. See Mathematics.

abstract, v. t. [See Abstract, a.].

•  To withdraw; to separate; to take away.  [1913 Webster]

  "He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices."  [1913 Webster]
•  To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.  [1913 Webster]

  "The young stranger had been abstracted and silent."  [1913 Webster]
•  To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.  Whately.  [1913 Webster]
•  To epitomize; to abridge.  Franklin.  [1913 Webster]
•  To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.  [1913 Webster]

  "Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness."  [1913 Webster]
•  To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.  [1913 Webster]

abstract, v. t. 

 To perform the process of abstraction.  [1913 Webster]
"I own myself able to abstract in one sense."  [1913 Webster]

abstract, n. [See Abstract, a.].

•  That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief.  [1913 Webster]

  "An abstract of every treatise he had read."  [1913 Webster]

  "Man, the abstract
  Of all perfection, which the workmanship
  Of Heaven hath modeled."  [1913 Webster]
•  A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.  [1913 Webster]
•  An abstract term.  [1913 Webster]

  "The concretes “father” and “son” have, or might have, the abstracts “paternity” and “filiety.”"  [1913 Webster]
•  A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.  [1913 Webster]

Abstract of title (Law), an epitome of the evidences of ownership.

Syn. -- Abridgment; compendium; epitome; synopsis. See Abridgment.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

abstract, adj., v., & n.
--adj.
1 a to do with or existing in thought rather than matter, or in theory rather than practice; not tangible or concrete (abstract questions rarely concerned him). b (of a word, esp. a noun) denoting a quality or condition or intangible thing rather than a concrete object.
2 (of art) achieving its effect by grouping shapes and colours in satisfying patterns rather than by the recognizable representation of physical reality.
--v.
1 tr. (often foll. by from) take out of; extract; remove.
2 a tr. summarize (an article, book, etc.). b intr. do this as an occupation.
3 tr. & refl. (often foll. by from) disengage (a person's attention etc.); distract.
4 tr. (foll. by from) consider abstractly or separately from something else.
5 tr. euphem. steal.
--n.
1 a summary or statement of the contents of a book etc.
2 an abstract work of art.
3 an abstraction or abstract term.

Idiom

abstract expressionism a development of abstract art which aims at a subjective emotional expression of an ideal rather than a picture of a physical object. in the abstract in theory rather than in practice.

Derivative

abstractly adv. abstractor n. (in sense 2 of v.).

Etymology

ME f. OF abstract or L abstractus past part. of abstrahere (as AB-, trahere draw)

THESAURUS

abstract

abate, abbreviate, abbreviation, abbreviature, abrade, abrege, abridge, abridgment, abstract idea, abstraction, abstruse, academic, altarpiece, and, annex, apocope, appropriate, arcane, armchair, bag, bate, bland, block print, bob, boil down, boost, borrow, breviary, brief, broad, capsule, capsulize, cast off, cast out, chuck, clear, clear away, clear out, clear the decks, clip, collage, collective, color print, colorless, compend, compress, compression, conceptual, condensation, condense, condensed version, conjectural, conspectus, contract, cop, copy, crib, crop, curtail, curtailment, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut out, cut short, cyclorama, daub, decrease, deduct, deep, defraud, deport, depreciate, derogate, detached, detract, digest, diminish, diptych, disconnect, disengage, disinterested, disparage, dispassionate, dispose of, dissociate, divide, dock, draft, drain, eat away, eject, elide, eliminate, elision, ellipsis, embezzle, engraving, epitome, epitomize, eradicate, erode, esoteric, essence, exile, expatriate, expel, extort, extract, featureless, filch, file away, foreshorten, foreshortening, fresco, general, generalized, generic, get quit of, get rid of, get shut of, head, hidden, hook, hypothetic, hypothetical, icon, ideal, ideational, illumination, illustration, image, impair, impersonal, impractical, indefinite, indeterminate, intellectual, leach, lessen, lift, likeness, liquidate, make off with, metaphysical, miniature, montage, moot, mosaic, mow, mural, nebulous, neutral, nip, nonspecific, notional, occult, outlaw, outline, overview, palm, pandect, panorama, part, photograph, pick out, picture, pilfer, pinch, poach, poker-faced, poll, pollard, postulatory, precis, print, profound, prune, purge, purify, purloin, reap, recap, recapitulate, recapitulation, recondite, reduce, reduction, refine, remove, representation, reproduction, resume, retrench, retrenchment, review, root out, root up, rub away, rubric, run away with, rustle, scrounge, secret, separate, shave, shear, shoplift, shorten, shortened version, shortening, skeleton, sketch, snare, snatch, snitch, snub, speculative, stained glass window, steal, stencil, still life, strike off, strike out, stunt, subduct, subtract, sum up, summarize, summary, summation, survey, swindle, swipe, syllabus, symbolic, syncope, synopsis, synopsize, tableau, take, take away, take from, take in, tapestry, telescope, telescoping, theoretical, thieve, thin, thin out, throw over, throw overboard, thumbnail sketch, topical outline, transcendent, transcendental, trim, triptych, truncate, truncation, unapplied, uncharacterized, uncouple, undemonstrable, undifferentiated, unpractical, unspecified, utopian, vague, visionary, walk off with, wall painting, wear away, weed, weed out, wide, withdraw

ROGET THESAURUS

abstract

Conciseness

VB be concise, condense, abridge, abstract, come to the point.

Compendium

N compend, compendium, abstract, precis, epitome, multum in parvo, analysis, pandect, digest, sum and substance, brief, abridgment, summary, apercu, draft, minute, note, excerpt, synopsis, textbook, conspectus, outlines, syllabus, contents, heads, prospectus, album, scrap book, note book, memorandum book, commonplace book, extracts, excerpta, cuttings, fugitive pieces, fugitive writing, spicilegium, flowers, anthology, collectanea, analecta, compilation, recapitulation, resume, review, abbreviation, abbreviature, contraction, shortening, compression, compendious, synoptic, analectic, abrege, abridged, variorum, in short, in epitome, in substance, in few words, it lies in a nutshell.

VB abridge, abstract, epitomize, summarize, make an abstract, prepare an abstract, draw an abstract, compile an abstract, recapitulate, review, skim, run over, sum up, abbreviate, condense, compile.

Disjunction

N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

Taking

VB take, catch, hook, nab, bag, sack, pocket, put into one's pocket, receive, accept, reap, crop, cull, pluck, gather, draw, appropriate, expropriate, impropriate, assume, possess oneself of, take possession of, commandeer, lay one's hands on, clap one's hands on, help oneself to, make free with, dip one's hands into, lay under contribution, intercept, scramble for, deprive of, take away, carry away, bear away, take off, carry off, bear off, adeem, abstract, hurry off with, run away with, abduct, steal, ravish, seize, pounce upon, spring upon, swoop to, swoop down upon, take by storm, take by assault, snatch, reave, snap up, nip up, whip up, catch up, kidnap, crimp, capture, lay violent hands on, get hold of, lay hold of, take hold of, catch hold of, lay fast hold of, take firm hold of, lay by the heels, take prisoner, fasten upon, grip, grapple, embrace, gripe, clasp, grab, clutch, collar, throttle, take by the throat, claw, clinch, clench, make sure of, catch at, jump at, make a grab at, snap at, snatch at, reach, make a long arm, stretch forth one's hand, take from, take away from, disseize, deduct, retrench, dispossess, ease one of, snatch from one's grasp, tear from, tear away from, wrench from, wrest from, wring from, extort, deprive of, bereave, disinherit, cut off with a shilling, oust, divest, levy, distrain, confiscate, sequester, sequestrate, accroach, usurp, despoil, strip, fleece, shear, displume, impoverish, eat out of house and home, drain, drain to the dregs, gut, dry, exhaust, swallow up, absorb, draw off, suck the blood of, suck like a leech, retake, resume, recover.

Stealing

VB steal, thieve, rob, mug, purloin, pilfer, filch, prig, bag, nim, crib, cabbage, palm, abstract, appropriate, plagiarize, convey away, carry off, abduct, kidnap, crimp, make off with, walk off with, run off with, run away with, spirit away, seize, plunder, pillage, rifle, sack, loot, ransack, spoil, spoliate, despoil, strip, sweep, gut, forage, levy blackmail, pirate, pickeer, maraud, lift cattle, poach, smuggle, run, badger, bail up, hold up, stick up, bunco, bunko, filibuster, swindle, peculate, embezzle, sponge, mulct, rook, bilk, pluck, pigeon, fleece, defraud, obtain under false pretenses, live by one's wits, rob Peter to pay Paul, borrow of Peter to pay Paul, set a thief to catch a thief, disregard the distinction between meum and tuum, fence, launder, launder money.