Meaning of abstract In English

• 0 existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object:

  • Truth and beauty are abstract concepts.

  • This debate is becoming too abstract - let's have some hard facts!

  • I have difficulty dealing with the abstract - let's discuss particular cases.

  • So far we've only discussed the question in the abstract (= without referring to any real examples).

• 1 used to refer to a type of painting, drawing, or sculpture that uses shapes, lines, and colour in a way that does not try to represent the appearance of people or things:

  • abstract art

  • an abstract painter

• 2 a short form of a speech, article, book, etc., giving only the most important facts or ideas:

  • There is a section at the end of the magazine that includes abstracts of recent articles/books.

• 3 a painting that uses shapes, lines, and colour in a way that does not try to represent the appearance of people or things

• 4 existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object:

  • "Humanity" is an abstract idea.

  • abstract art

• 5 a few sentences that give the main ideas in an article or a scientific paper

• 6 existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object:

  • "Satisfaction" is difficult to measure as it is an abstract concept.

• 7 a shortened form of a speech, article, book, etc., giving the most important facts or ideas:

  • There is a section at the end of the magazine which includes abstracts of recent articles.