Abstracts
/ˈæbstrækts/
verbIntermediate📊CommonGeneral
1 meaning1 question
Definitions
1
To take the essential meaning or essence of something and remove non-essential details.
/ˈæbstrækts/
verbneutralIntermediate
General
Summarize or simplify (ideas, theories, etc.).
The book provides an abstract of the main ideas in each chapter.
More Examples
2
The artist created an abstract representation of urban life.
How It's Used
Academic
"The professor asked the student to abstract the main points from the research paper."
Business
"The marketing team abstracted the core values of the company for the new campaign."
From Latin 'abstractus' meaning 'drawn away', past participle of 'abstrahere' meaning 'to draw away'.
Originally used in the 15th century to refer to the process of drawing away. Later in the 16th century, it began to be used to refer to a summary of a larger work.
Memory tip
Think of extracting the most important parts from a complex system.
Word Origin
LanguageLatin
Original meaning
"Drawn away"
Base: abstract
key abstractdetailed abstract
Common misspellings
abtractsabstraxts
Practice
Usage
30%Spoken
70%Written