ab·strac·tion

(ăb-străk′shən, əb-)

a. The act of abstracting or the state of having been abstracted.

b. An abstract concept, idea, or term.

c. An abstract quality.

2. Preoccupation; absent-mindedness.

3. An abstract work of art.

ab·strac′tion·al, ab·strac′tive adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

abstraction

(æbˈstrækʃən)

1. absence of mind; preoccupation

2. the process of formulating generalized ideas or concepts by extracting common qualities from specific examples

3. an idea or concept formulated in this way: good and evil are abstractions.

4. (Logic) logic an operator that forms a class name or predicate from any given expression. See also lambda calculus

5. (Art Terms) an abstract painting, sculpture, etc

6. the act of withdrawing or removing

abˈstractive adj

abˈstractively adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ab•strac•tion

(æbˈstræk ʃən)

n.

1. an abstract or general idea or term.

2. the act of considering something in terms of general qualities, apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.

3. absent-mindedness; inattention.

4. the quality of being abstract.

[1540–50; < Late Latin]

ab•strac′tion•al, adj.

ab•strac′tive, adj.

abstraction

the taking of another’s property for one’s own use.

See also: Property and Ownership

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	abstraction - a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance; "he loved her only in the abstract--not in person" abstract right - an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature; "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"; "Certain rights can never be granted to the government but must be kept in the hands of the people"- Eleanor Roosevelt; "a right is not something that somebody gives you; it is something that nobody can take away" concept, conception, construct - an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances absolute - something that is conceived or that exists independently and not in relation to other things; something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control; something that is not relative; "no mortal being can influence the absolute" teacher - a personified abstraction that teaches; "books were his teachers"; "experience is a demanding teacher" thing - a special abstraction; "a thing of the spirit"; "things of the heart"
	2.	abstraction - the act of withdrawing or removing something remotion, removal - the act of removing; "he had surgery for the removal of a malignancy"
	3.	abstraction - the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances generalisation, generalization theorisation, theorization - the production or use of theories
	4.	abstraction - an abstract painting painting, picture - graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface; "a small painting by Picasso"; "he bought the painting as an investment"; "his pictures hang in the Louvre"
	5.	abstraction - preoccupation with something to the exclusion of all else abstractedness preoccupancy, preoccupation, engrossment, absorption - the mental state of being preoccupied by something revery, reverie - an abstracted state of absorption
	6.	abstraction - a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples abstract entity entity - that which is perceived or known or inferred to have its own distinct existence (living or nonliving) psychological feature - a feature of the mental life of a living organism attribute - an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity group, grouping - any number of entities (members) considered as a unit relation - an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together communication - something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups quantity, measure, amount - how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify otherworld - an abstract spiritual world beyond earthly reality set - (mathematics) an abstract collection of numbers or symbols; "the set of prime numbers is infinite"

abstraction

noun

1. concept, thought, idea, view, theory, impression, formula, notion, hypothesis, generalization, theorem, generality Is it worth fighting in the name of an abstraction?

2. absent-mindedness, musing, preoccupation, daydreaming, vagueness, remoteness, absence, inattention, dreaminess, obliviousness, absence of mind, pensiveness, woolgathering, distractedness, bemusedness He noticed her abstraction and asked, 'What's bothering you?'

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

abstraction

noun

The condition of being so lost in solitary thought as to be unaware of one's surroundings:

absent-mindedness, bemusement, brown study, daydreaming, muse, reverie, study, trance.

Translations

абстракция

Abstraktion Abwesenheit

abstracción

abstraction

astrazione sottrazione

abstraksjon

abstrakcja

абстракция

abstraction

[æbˈstrækʃən] N

1. (= act) → abstraccíón f

2. (= absent-mindedness) → distraimiento m, ensimismamiento m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

abstraction

[æbˈstrækʃ^ən] n

(= abstract idea) → idée f abstraite

(= preoccupation) → air m préoccupé

(ART) (in art, sculpture) → abstraction f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

abstraction

n → Abstraktion f; (= abstract term also) → Abstraktum nt; (= mental separation also) → Abstrahieren nt; (= extraction: of information etc) → Entnahme f; (= absent-mindedness) → Entrücktheit f (geh); to argue in abstractions → in abstrakten Begriffen or in Abstraktionen argumentieren

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

abstraction

[æbˈstrækʃ/ən] n

a. (absence of mind) → distrazione f

b. (Philosophy) → astrazione f, concetto astratto

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

But I deny that I can abstract from one another, or conceive separately, those qualities which it is impossible should exist so separated; or that I can frame a general notion, by abstracting from particulars in the manner aforesaid--which last are the two proper acceptations of ABSTRACTION. And there is ground to think most men will acknowledge themselves to be in my case.

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In his haste and abstraction he stuck a pickle-fork into his right eye, and on removing the fork the eye came with it.

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Besides the investigation into the manner in which the deceased had met his death, there were serious questions to be settled relating to the cause of the fire, to the abstraction of the keys, and to the presence of a stranger in the vestry at the time when the flames broke out.

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His attitude had in it a suggestion of abstraction, like that of a sleepwalker.

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The common logic says 'the greater the extension, the less the comprehension,' and we may put the same thought in another way and say of abstract or general ideas, that the greater the abstraction of them, the less are they capable of being applied to particular and concrete natures.

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The simplest abstraction was practically beyond our thinking; and when one did happen to think one, he was hard put to communicate it to his fellows.

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When at last he roused himself from his abstraction the sun's rim was visible above the hills, but in the new conditions he found no other light than that of day; his understanding was involved as darkly in doubt as before.

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But most humble though he was, and far from furnishing an example of the high, humane abstraction; the Pequod's carpenter was no duplicate; hence, he now comes in person on this stage.

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The dairyman, who had thrown himself into abstraction to better realize the taste, and so divine the particular species of noxious weed to which it appertained, suddenly exclaimed--

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Presently, after moving, he leaned back and gazed with a curious abstraction at his antagonist.

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Princess Mary roused him from his abstraction by drawing his attention to her nephew who had entered the room.

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Plato among the Greeks, like Bacon among the moderns, was the first who conceived a method of knowledge, although neither of them always distinguished the bare outline or form from the substance of truth; and both of them had to be content with an abstraction of science which was not yet realized.

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