abstract
/ˈæbˌstɹækt/ verb C2- To separate; to disengage.
- To remove; to take away; withdraw.
- To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
- To draw off (interest or attention). · He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
- To withdraw oneself; to retire.
- 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 create abstractions.
Plural abstract · He/she/it abstracts · Past abstracted · Past participle abstracted · -ing form abstracting
Verb forms
- Base form
- abstract
- He/she/it
- abstracts
- Past
- abstracted
- Past participle
- abstracted
- -ing form
- abstracting
From the library
“Who comes there?” cried the sentinel, who was less abstracted, and who saw by the lamp-light a shadow approaching his chief.
Marilla was not to be drawn from the safe concrete into dubious paths of the abstract.
As Danglars approached the disappointed lover, he cast on him a look of deep meaning, while Fernand, as he slowly paced behind the happy pair, who seemed, in their own unmixed content, to have entirely forgotten that such a being as himself existed, was pale and abstracted; occasionally, however, a deep flush would overspread his countenance, and a nervous contraction distort his features, while, with an agitated and restless gaze, he would glance in the direction of Marseilles, like one who either anticipated or foresaw some great and important event.
As it progressed Anne became more and more abstracted, eating mechanically, with her big eyes fixed unswervingly and unseeingly on the sky outside the window.
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