abstract
Pronunciation
change- noun
- adjective
- (US) IPA (key): /ˌæbˈstrækt/ or /əbˈstrækt/ or /ˈæbˌstrækt/
- (UK) IPA (key): /ˈæbˌstrækt/
Audio (UK) (file)
- verb
- IPA (key): /ˌæbˈstrækt/ or /əbˈstrækt/
Audio (UK) (file) - Hyphenation: ab‧stract
Adjective
change
Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- If something is abstract, you cannot touch it, and it is difficult to imagine or think about.
- Synonym: abstruse
- A lot of abstract painting uses harsh shapes and most people do not like it.
- More abstract ideas like "democracy" are not possible for animals.
- Houses and books are things you can touch. Honesty, patience and courage are abstract.
- (logic) If something is abstract, it is general.
- Synonym: general
- Antonym: particular
- If something is abstract, it is thought of as apart from any other use with an object; it is removed from it; it is separate or abstracted.
- If something is abstract, it is not practical or realistic; it is not concrete; it is theoretical; it is vague.
- Synonyms: vague and theoretical
- If something is abstract, it does not have all of the facts; it is not factual.
- Synonym: formal
- Antonym: factual
Related words
changeNoun
change- (countable) An abstract is a short text that tells you the main ideas of a longer text, especially of scientific papers; it is a summary of something longer.
- The abstract of Isaac Newton's laws of gravity may be no more than 150 words.
- (countable) An abstract is an abstraction; it is an abstract word.
- (countable); (art) An abstract is a piece of art that is made in the abstract fashion of art.
- (countable); (medicine) An abstract is a powdered solid extract of a vegetable that is then mixed with the sugar of milk.
Related words
changeVerb
change
Plain form |
Third-person singular |
Past tense |
Past participle |
Present participle |
- (transitive) If you abstract something, you summarize it; you abridge it.
- (transitive) If you abstract something, you separate it; you remove it.
- (transitive) If you abstract something, you withdraw it.
- (transitive); (art) If you abstract something, you make abstractions of it in art.
- (transitive); (euphemistic) If you abstract something, you take it away from someone without permission; you steal it.
- (transitive) If you abstract something, you think about it separate from everything else; you consider it abstractly.
- (intransitive); (rare) If you abstract something, you go through the process or abstraction.