Abstract Meaning
/ˈæbˌstɹækt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn abridgement or summary of a longer publication.
nounSomething that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.
Sentence Examples
To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he always had enough to eat.
The theory is too abstract for me.
The new theory is too abstract for ordinary people.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist prefers to paint ____ shapes rather than realistic landscapes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His paintings are very ____ and hard for most people to understand.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"An analysis and abstract of every treatise he had read."
— 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
"Man, the abstract Of all perfection, which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modeled."
— 1628, John Ford, The Lover's Melancholy:
"Thus the concrete like has its abstract likeness; the concretes, father and son, have the abstracts, paternity and filiation."
— 1843, John Stuart Mill, chapter II, in A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence, and the Methods of Scientific Investigation. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, page 54:
"During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, this commitment brought him into frequent critical confrontation with entrenched forms of conservative thinking (in academic areas from history and social science to the more abstract domains of ethical and political philosophy),[…]"
— 1999, Nicholas Walker, “The Reorientation of Critical Theory: Habermas”, in Simon Glemdinning, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy, Routledge, →ISBN, page 489:
"Abstract words such as glory, honour, courage, or hallow were obscene."
— 1929, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist prefers to paint ____ shapes rather than realistic landscapes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His paintings are very ____ and hard for most people to understand.