Definitions for the word "abstract" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. a.
Withdraw; separate.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. a.
Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, "reptile" is an abstract or general name.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. a.
Abstracted; absent in mind.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. a.
To withdraw; to separate; to take away.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. a.
To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. a.
To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. a.
To epitomize; to abridge.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. a.
To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. v. t.
To perform the process of abstraction.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. 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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
14. a.
A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
15. a.
An abstract term.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
16. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
17. adj.
1 a of or existing in thought or theory rather than matter or practice; not concrete. B (of a word, esp. A noun) denoting a quality, condition, etc., not a concrete object. 2 (of art) achieving its effect by form and colour rather than by realism. v. 1 (often foll. By from) extract, remove. 2 summarize. n. 1 summary. 2 abstract work of art. 3 abstraction or abstract term. [latin: related to *tract1]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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Additional Info
This page provides a list of definitions and meanings for "abstract" from various historical English dictionaries. By displaying multiple definitions, you can compare and
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