- 1based on general ideas and not on any particular real person, thing, or situation abstract knowledge/principles The research shows that preschool children are capable of thinking in abstract terms. compare concrete
- 2existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical reality We may talk of beautiful things, but beauty itself is abstract.
- 3(of art) not representing people or things in a realistic way, but expressing the artist's ideas about them the work of abstract expressionists like Mark Rothko compare figurative, representational
See abstract in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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