26984 words

abstraction

4 definitions • 6 examples
1
the quality of existing as or representing an idea, a feeling, etc. and not a material object, or something that has this quality:

Examples:

They discuss the issue of realism versus abstraction in sculpture.
Actual black holes have been found: they are no longer mathematical abstractions.
2
the quality of being very general and not based on real examples, or something that has this quality:

Examples:

She's always talking in abstractions.
He has a tendency towards abstraction and pretentiousness which weakens his argument.
3
the action of removing or separating something from a place or context (= the situation, facts, words, etc. that exist around something), or something that is removed like this:

Examples:

Water abstraction from rivers is increasing, due to the rise in demand and increasing population density in the region.
The quality rating is a statistical abstraction from various data sources.
4
an idea that develops by looking at or thinking about a number of different things

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