abstraction

noun

ab·​strac·​tion ab-ˈstrak-shən 

əb-

1

a

: the act or process of abstracting : the state of being abstracted

b

: an abstract idea or term

2

: absence of mind or preoccupation

3

: abstract quality or character

4

a

: an abstract composition or creation in art

b

: abstractionism

abstractional

ab-ˈstrak-sh(ə-)nəl 

əb-

adjective

abstractive

ab-ˈstrak-tiv 

ˈab-ˌstrak-

adjective

Did you know?

From its roots, abstraction should mean basically "something pulled or drawn away". So abstract art is art that has moved away from painting objects of the ordinary physical world in order to show something beyond it. Theories are often abstractions; so a theory about economics, for instance, may "pull back" to take a broad view that somehow explains all of economics (but maybe doesn't end up explaining any of it very successfully). An abstract of a medical or scientific article is a one-paragraph summary of its contents—that is, the basic findings "pulled out" of the article.

Synonyms

• cogitation
• concept
• conception
• idea
• image
• impression
• intellection
• mind's eye
• notion
• picture
• thought

Examples of abstraction in a Sentence

abstraction of data from hospital records

“Beauty” and “truth” are abstractions.

She gazed out the window in abstraction.

Recent Examples on the Web

This time, Sumner elevated his speech to a higher level of abstraction to propound on the historical meaning and ontology of the Civil War. —Zaakir Tameez june 11, Literary Hub, 11 June 2025

In contrast, the more levels of abstractions away (for example, solving the problems of someone who reports to someone who reports to a department who reports to the CEO), the riskier working on that problem is. —Ray Zhou, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025

Mondrian is considered a pioneer of European abstraction, thanks to his early experiments in color and geometry in the 1920s. —Tim F. Schneider, New York Times, 12 May 2025

Sella now runs 16,000 square feet of studio space and, eight floors below, has newly opened a 40,000-square-foot exhibition of 173 paintings and sculptures, including sweaters by the artist Sam Barsky and small abstractions of skylines by Robert Storr. —Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 9 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French, "abduction (of a woman), removal, extraction (of a foreign body from a wound), (in philosophy) process by which the mind is able to form universal representations of the properties of distinct objects," borrowed from Late Latin abstractiōn-, abstractiō, from Latin abstrac- (variant stem of abstrahere "to remove forcibly") + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of action nouns — more at abstract entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for abstraction

• attraction
• compaction
• contraction
• detraction
• diffraction
• distraction
• exaction
• extraction
• impaction
• inaction
• infraction
• olfaction

Kids Definition

abstraction

noun

ab·​strac·​tion ab-ˈstrak-shən 

1

a

: the act or process of abstracting : the state of being abstracted

b

: an abstract idea or term

2

: an artistic composition or creation having designs that do not represent actual objects

abstractive

-ˈstrak-tiv 

adjective