Abstraction
/æbˈstrækʃn/noun
The process of considering something as a general quality, apart from concrete realities, specific objects or actual instances.
Patty was lost in the abstraction of her thoughts.
Often appears as...
- lost in abstraction
- theorize in abstraction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A piece of art or design that doesn't represent anything real or specific, just abstract shapes and ideas.
His work is an abstraction of natural forms
Often appears as...
- artistic abstraction
- abstract expressionism
noun
The process of simplifying and organizing data in a way that human brain or a computer can effectively manage it.
Abstraction is an important technique in software engineering.
Often appears as...
- data abstraction
- software abstraction
Usage tips
Technical
noun
An abstract quality, condition or concept.
Justice is an abstraction.
Often appears as...
- moral abstraction
- philosophical abstraction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The act of taking or taking away.
He was arrested for the abstraction of historical artifacts
Often appears as...
- abstraction of property
- illegal abstraction
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
The process of considering something as a general quality, apart from concrete realities, specific objects or actual instances.
Patty was lost in the abstraction of her thoughts.
Often appears as...
- lost in abstraction
- theorize in abstraction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A piece of art or design that doesn't represent anything real or specific, just abstract shapes and ideas.
His work is an abstraction of natural forms
Often appears as...
- artistic abstraction
- abstract expressionism
noun
The process of simplifying and organizing data in a way that human brain or a computer can effectively manage it.
Abstraction is an important technique in software engineering.
Often appears as...
- data abstraction
- software abstraction
Usage tips
Technical
noun
An abstract quality, condition or concept.
Justice is an abstraction.
Often appears as...
- moral abstraction
- philosophical abstraction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The act of taking or taking away.
He was arrested for the abstraction of historical artifacts
Often appears as...
- abstraction of property
- illegal abstraction
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/2Beyond Specifics
Think of 'abstraction' as stepping back to look at the big picture, not the tiny details.
Discussions about happiness often involve abstraction.
Pro Tip 2/2Conceptual Thinking
'Abstraction' in academic contexts can lead to deep insights and understanding larger concepts.
In philosophy, the abstraction of ideas is common.
Compare with
alienatedistillateextractiongeneralizationidealizationobfuscatereducesimplification
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Video examples
Ed Boyden: A light...
We're developing tools and sharing them freely with hundreds of groups all over the world for them to study and try to treat different disorders. Our hope is that by figuring out brain circuits at a level of abstraction that lets us repair them and engineer them, we can take some of these intractable disorders I mentioned earlier,
Video examples
3 clues to understanding...
It's because you're all doing a cross-model synesthetic abstraction, meaning you're saying that that sharp inflection -- ki-ki, in your auditory cortex, the hair cells being excited -- Kiki, mimics the visual inflection, sudden inflection of that jagged shape. Now, this is very important, because what it's telling you
Video examples
The complex geometry of...
were preserved and further developed, resulting in fundamental advancements in scientific study and mathematics. Accompanying this was an increasingly sophisticated use of abstraction and complex geometry in Islamic art, from intricate floral motifs adorning carpets and textiles,
Video examples
The exclusion of Native...
filled the board in rawhide and I painted a really simple abstraction on the surface the piece is titled time castle I want to preserve my memory of his relentless optimism the work i make forces us to consider what is art how is it made and who is it made by if
Video examples
Ajit Narayanan: A word...
to help them communicate. Now, many of the problems that children with autism face, they have a common source, and that source is that they find it difficult to understand abstraction, symbolism. And because of this, they have a lot of difficulty with language.
Video examples
Chris Domas: The 1s and...
This is what an image looks like from your cell phone. But this is what it looks like in a visual abstraction. This is what your music looks like, but here's its visual abstraction. Most importantly for me, this is what the code on your cell phone looks like.
Video examples
Ge Wang: The DIY...
Now this is kind of the abstraction for the sound output on my computer. Okay? So I've connected myself into the speaker. Next, I'm going to say my frequency is 440 hertz, and I'm going to let time advance by two seconds through this operation.
Video examples
Carol Beckwith & Angela...
started to realize that we were looking at images of deep time we became so fascinated with the psalmist creativity that we started photographing sections of the body as beautiful abstractions in themselves a few years ago we decided to
Video examples
How love can help repair...
and police brutality and really needing to advance towards social justice and social change so the three principles are very simple and they are as follows number one treat people like human beings not like political abstractions number
Video examples
Why our IQ levels are...
and it's a world where we've had to develop new mental habits, new habits of mind. And these include things like clothing that concrete world with classification, introducing abstractions that we try to make logically consistent,
Video examples
Ed Boyden: A light...
We're developing tools and sharing them freely with hundreds of groups all over the world for them to study and try to treat different disorders. Our hope is that by figuring out brain circuits at a level of abstraction that lets us repair them and engineer them, we can take some of these intractable disorders I mentioned earlier,
Video examples
3 clues to understanding...
It's because you're all doing a cross-model synesthetic abstraction, meaning you're saying that that sharp inflection -- ki-ki, in your auditory cortex, the hair cells being excited -- Kiki, mimics the visual inflection, sudden inflection of that jagged shape. Now, this is very important, because what it's telling you
Video examples
The complex geometry of...
were preserved and further developed, resulting in fundamental advancements in scientific study and mathematics. Accompanying this was an increasingly sophisticated use of abstraction and complex geometry in Islamic art, from intricate floral motifs adorning carpets and textiles,
Video examples
The exclusion of Native...
filled the board in rawhide and I painted a really simple abstraction on the surface the piece is titled time castle I want to preserve my memory of his relentless optimism the work i make forces us to consider what is art how is it made and who is it made by if
Video examples
Ajit Narayanan: A word...
to help them communicate. Now, many of the problems that children with autism face, they have a common source, and that source is that they find it difficult to understand abstraction, symbolism. And because of this, they have a lot of difficulty with language.
Video examples
Chris Domas: The 1s and...
This is what an image looks like from your cell phone. But this is what it looks like in a visual abstraction. This is what your music looks like, but here's its visual abstraction. Most importantly for me, this is what the code on your cell phone looks like.
Video examples
Ge Wang: The DIY...
Now this is kind of the abstraction for the sound output on my computer. Okay? So I've connected myself into the speaker. Next, I'm going to say my frequency is 440 hertz, and I'm going to let time advance by two seconds through this operation.
Video examples
Carol Beckwith & Angela...
started to realize that we were looking at images of deep time we became so fascinated with the psalmist creativity that we started photographing sections of the body as beautiful abstractions in themselves a few years ago we decided to
Video examples
How love can help repair...
and police brutality and really needing to advance towards social justice and social change so the three principles are very simple and they are as follows number one treat people like human beings not like political abstractions number
Video examples
Why our IQ levels are...
and it's a world where we've had to develop new mental habits, new habits of mind. And these include things like clothing that concrete world with classification, introducing abstractions that we try to make logically consistent,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Michael Leunig
Australian Cartoonist
I have always loved contemporary dance, but it has always been a bit of a mystery to me. But choreography is very much like what I do when you are putting characters in frame on the page. It's so impressive what they do with their bodies. It's like painting: an abstraction.
Quote examples
Lee Krasner
American Artist
At that point it certainly would be called abstract. That is to say, you had a model and there'd be one or two or three people there drawing the model but otherwise you had abstractions all around the room, even though the model was in front of you.
Quote examples
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Argentinian Activist
Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.
Quote examples
Stephen Jay Gould
American Scientist
Contrary to current cynicism about past golden ages, the abstraction known as 'the intelligent layperson' does exist - in the form of millions of folks with a passionate commitment to continuous learning.
Quote examples
Franz Grillparzer
Austrian Poet
The main reason why men and women make different aesthetic judgments is the fact that the latter, generally incapable of abstraction, only admire what meets their complete approval.
Quote examples
David Lynch
American Director
To me, a story can be both concrete and abstract, or a concrete story can hold abstractions. And abstractions are things that really can't be said so well with words.
Quote examples
Havelock Ellis
British Psychologist
Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.
Quote examples
Jeff Dean
American Musician
There's nothing like necessity of needing to do something to cause you to come up with abstractions that help you break through the forms.
Quote examples
Deepak Chopra
American Speaker
So the universe is constantly moving in the direction of higher evolutionary impulses, creativity, abstraction, and meaning.
Quote examples
Remy de Gourmont
French Novelist
Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction.
Quote examples
Michael Leunig
Australian Cartoonist
I have always loved contemporary dance, but it has always been a bit of a mystery to me. But choreography is very much like what I do when you are putting characters in frame on the page. It's so impressive what they do with their bodies. It's like painting: an abstraction.
Quote examples
Lee Krasner
American Artist
At that point it certainly would be called abstract. That is to say, you had a model and there'd be one or two or three people there drawing the model but otherwise you had abstractions all around the room, even though the model was in front of you.
Quote examples
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Argentinian Activist
Reflection is only a partial understanding of truth if it does not translate itself in practice into commitments to the common good and justice. Truth is not mere abstraction but something to be done and is only apprehended when this is realized.
Quote examples
Stephen Jay Gould
American Scientist
Contrary to current cynicism about past golden ages, the abstraction known as 'the intelligent layperson' does exist - in the form of millions of folks with a passionate commitment to continuous learning.
Quote examples
Franz Grillparzer
Austrian Poet
The main reason why men and women make different aesthetic judgments is the fact that the latter, generally incapable of abstraction, only admire what meets their complete approval.
Quote examples
David Lynch
American Director
To me, a story can be both concrete and abstract, or a concrete story can hold abstractions. And abstractions are things that really can't be said so well with words.
Quote examples
Havelock Ellis
British Psychologist
Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.
Quote examples
Jeff Dean
American Musician
There's nothing like necessity of needing to do something to cause you to come up with abstractions that help you break through the forms.
Quote examples
Deepak Chopra
American Speaker
So the universe is constantly moving in the direction of higher evolutionary impulses, creativity, abstraction, and meaning.
Quote examples
Remy de Gourmont
French Novelist
Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction.
Example 1 of 10
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