abstract

adjective

(stress on the first syllable)

1 abstract concepts such as love and beauty:

theoretical, conceptual, notional, intellectual, metaphysical, philosophical, academic;

hypothetical, speculative, conjectural, conjectured, suppositional, putative;

rare suppositious, suppositive, ideational.

▷antonyms actual, concrete.

2 abstract art:

nonrepresentational, nonrealistic, nonpictorial, symbolic, impressionistic.

▷antonyms representational.

verb

(stress on the second syllable)

1 staff who index and abstract material for an online database:

summarize, write a summary of, precis, abridge, condense, compress, shorten, cut down, abbreviate, synopsize;

rare epitomize.

2 they want to abstract water from the river:

extract, pump, draw (off), tap, suck, withdraw, remove, take out/away;

separate, detach, isolate, dissociate.

noun

(stress on the first syllable)

an abstract of her speech:

summary, synopsis, precis, résumé, outline, recapitulation, abridgment, condensation, digest, summation;

French aperçu;

North American wrap-up;

archaic argument;

rare epitome, conspectus.

▷antonyms complete version, full text.