abstract
n.n. based on general ideas rather than real things you can touch or see. It also describes art that uses shapes and colors instead of showing real people or places.
n. existing in thought or as an idea without physical or concrete existence. When applied to art, it describes works that do not attempt to represent external reality, relying instead on shapes, colours, and forms.
Truth and justice are abstract concepts.
The speaker struggled to explain the abstract theory to an audience that was used to practical, hands-on examples.
While the mathematician's work dealt entirely with abstract topological spaces, her findings eventually provided the foundation for highly practical advancements in quantum computing.
From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.
The adjective is frequently contrasted with 'concrete'; it can be used both attributively and predicatively.