Abstraction
[əb'strækʃ(ə)n] or [æb'strækʃən]
Definition
(noun.) a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples.
(noun.) the act of withdrawing or removing something.
(noun.) an abstract painting.
(noun.) the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances.
(noun.) a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance; 'he loved her only in the abstract--not in person'.
Typed by Jed--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) The act of abstracting, separating, or withdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal.
(a.) The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects.
(a.) An idea or notion of an abstract, or theoretical nature; as, to fight for mere abstractions.
(a.) A separation from worldly objects; a recluse life; as, a hermit's abstraction.
(a.) Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects.
(a.) The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining.
(a.) A separation of volatile parts by the act of distillation.
Edited by Emily
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Separation, disconnection, disjunction, isolation.[2]. Preoccupation, inattention, revery, musing, muse, absence, absence of mind, brown study.[3]. Taking, abduction, seizure, appropriation, stealing, purloining, pilfering.
Inputed by Joanna
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Separation, {[poiloining]?}, removal, appropriation, generalization,classification, reverie, absorption, inattention, absence
ANT:Addition, conjunction, union, adduction, importation, restoration, restitution,individualization, enumeration, analysis, specification, observation,attention, Abstracted,[See ABSTRACT_and_ABSTRACTION]
Checked by Llewellyn
Examples
- I beg your pardon,' said the Dodger, looking up with an air of abstraction. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Mr. Mallard departed to execute his commission; and Serjeant Snubbin relapsed into abstraction until Mr. Phunky himself was introduced. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- He looked at the two, less and less attentively, and his eyes in gloomy abstraction sought the ground and looked about him in the old way. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- But politics was a personal drama without meaning or a vague abstraction without substance. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- As the years went on, she lost more and more count of the world, she seemed rapt in some glittering abstraction, almost purely unconscious. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Do what he would, he fell into such a mood of abstraction that Gowan said again, 'I am very much afraid my mother has bored you? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Reference to these possible applications is necessary in order that the abstraction may be fruitful, instead of a barren formalism ending in itself. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- There was much sense in your smile: it was very shrewd, and seemed to make light of your own abstraction. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- But when the new element requires especial attention, random reaction is the sole recourse unless abstraction is brought into play. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- In this state of abstraction he found himself, the following morning, waking to the reality of a stifling September day in New York. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Fanny was too well aware of it to have anything to say; and they walked on together some fifty yards in mutual silence and abstraction. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Bradley leaned his elbows on his knees, and his head upon his hands, and looked at the fire with a most intent abstraction. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Idealism creates an abstraction and then shudders at a reality which does not answer to it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Another short fit of abstraction followed, when, shaking it off, she thus attacked her companion. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- A certain peace, an abstraction possessed his soul. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- There seem to be two great aims in the philosophy of Plato,--first, to realize abstractions; secondly, to connect them. Plato. The Republic.
- What they really are you and I know inwardly by using abstractions and living our lives. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- For words, theories, symbols, slogans, abstractions of all kinds are nothing but the porous vessels into which life flows, is contained for a time, and then passes through. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- As I have had to abstract from life in order to communicate, so you are compelled to animate my abstractions, in order to understand. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Scarcely a substance herself, she grapples to conflict with abstractions. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- But once I attempt to give that inwardness expression, I must use the only weapons I have--abstractions, theories, phrases. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Abstractions are not cloaks, nor wax figures, nor walls, nor vessels, and life doesn't flow like water. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The man of science in developing his abstractions is like a manufacturer of tools who does not know who will use them nor when. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And as to ideas, entities, abstractions, and transcendentals, I could never drive the least conception into their heads. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- I am not a poet; I cannot live with abstractions. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Elsa