How to Use in the abstract in a Sentence

in the abstract

idiom

• But disarming and demilitarizing the Ukrainian forces would constrain Ukrainian sovereignty both in the abstract and on the ground.
  — Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 20 Apr. 2022
• Oh, and make sure the statements in the abstract match the ones in the paper.
  — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2013
• At least in the abstract sense that is not true in my case.
  — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 11 Apr. 2012
• Damn the rich in the open and in the abstract, court them in the concrete and secret of darkness.
  — Victor Davis Hanson, Arkansas Online, 5 Dec. 2022
• This is something you can be told, and grasp in the abstract.
  — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2020
• Those of us who love this country know that in the abstract.
  — Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023
• But talking about it in the abstract or after the fact is one thing.
  — Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 13 Dec. 2021
• People think unions are a good idea — in the abstract, and for someone else.
  — Dominic Pino, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024
• The lesson of Apple is that freedom of the press doesn’t exist in the abstract.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 21 June 2021
• There’s no such thing as a perfect Mother’s Day gift—not in the abstract.
  — Chuong Nguyen, Ars Technica, 25 Apr. 2023
• In the end, though, trust isn’t a property that can be measured in the abstract, like some sort of social ether.
  — The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021
• But none of that stopped them from writing the exact opposite in the abstract.
  — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023
• The voters answering the polls are right: America doesn’t need, or want in the abstract, four more years of Joe Biden.
  — The Editors, National Review, 25 Apr. 2023
• The pleasures of poetry, meanwhile, are so rooted in the abstract and ephemeral that not getting the point can be the point.
  — David Amsden, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
• While many automakers are happy to talk about the end of combustion engines, most tend to do so in the abstract.
  — Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 5 Nov. 2020
• Much of the debate over the issue now seems to occur in the abstract, concerned with the sanctity of life and the metaphysics of conception.
  — John Anderson, WSJ, 7 June 2022
• Such statistics have become hard to fathom in the abstract.
  — Tim Carman, Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2022
• Resolving to change course sounds appealing in the abstract.
  — Damon Linker, The Week, 1 Feb. 2022
• Balance is a quality that is ideal in the abstract, but wine is not an abstraction.
  — Lettie Teague, WSJ, 20 Jan. 2022
• Doing science is a skilled activity, like swimming: you can't be taught it in the abstract.
  — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 4 Nov. 2019
• The current petitions before the court challenge the law in the abstract, and so the judges could decline to hear those cases, and wait for a concrete case to accept for review.
  — Emily Bazelon, New York Times, 25 July 2023
• Trussell’s mother first takes on the role of teacher, speaking about life and death in the abstract, as a means toward guiding and comforting her son through the process of her own dying.
  — Maya Phillips, New York Times, 7 May 2021
• With a sizzling new music video that dips in the abstract, Kara’s larger than life message is reaching listeners across the country.
  — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 29 Sep. 2023
• Danny and Sasha had been married for less than a year, and Janet, who had no objection to their union in particular, was not yet used to the idea in the abstract: her child was someone’s wife.
  — Clare Sestanovich, The New Yorker, 25 July 2022
• Men, however, are afraid not only of specific enemies, but of death in the abstract.
  — Avis D. Carlson, Harper's Magazine, 23 June 2020
• This description may be accurate in the abstract, but in practice health insurance does not work this way in our country.
  — Star Tribune, 10 July 2021
• The idea that local control for California cities is a good thing for their citizenry is an easy argument to make — in the abstract.
  — The Editorial Board, Orange County Register, 5 Apr. 2024
• For climate, the challenge lies in the abstract nature of the scarcity: There is no shortage of carbon but rather of atmospheric space to continue filling with it.
  — Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 3 Mar. 2023
• Contrary to education orthodoxy, reading comprehension isn’t just a set of skills that can be taught in the abstract and applied to any text.
  — Natalie Wexler, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2021
• Become a Subscriber The importance of hydration, in the abstract, is indisputable.
  — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 4 Aug. 2023

Last Updated: 20 Oct 2024