- based on general ideas and not on any particular real person, thing or situation
- abstract knowledge/principles
- The research shows that pre-school children are capable of thinking in abstract terms.
Extra Examples- Abstract principles are no good in this particular situation.
- All human beings are capable of thinking in abstract terms.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical reality
- We may talk of beautiful things but beauty itself is abstract.
Extra Examples- Mathematics is an extremely abstract discipline.
- Some of the ideas that their legal system is based on are incredibly abstract.
- Freedom is more than a purely abstract notion.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- (of art) not representing people or things in a realistic way, but expressing the artist’s ideas about them
- the work of American abstract expressionists like Mark Rothko
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
Word OriginMiddle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away’, past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off’.
Check pronunciation:
abstract