abstraction
/əbˈstɹæk.ʃn̩/
This term describes the mental act of stripping away specific, tangible details to arrive at a universal principle. It carries a clinical or intellectual feeling, often used in philosophy, mathematics, and art to describe things that cannot be touched or seen.
Meanings
The process of considering something independently of its concrete physical existence or specific instances.
The philosopher focused on the abstraction of justice as a universal concept.
A quality or state of being preoccupied or distant from one's immediate surroundings.
His sudden abstraction during the meeting suggested he was worrying about something else.
The act of removing or extracting something from a larger whole.
The abstraction of funds from the corporate account was discovered during the audit.
Examples
The philosopher focused on the abstraction of justice as a universal concept.
His sudden abstraction during the meeting suggested he was worrying about something else.
The abstraction of funds from the corporate account was discovered during the audit.
The gallery is specializing in mid-century geometric abstraction.
The interface provides a layer of abstraction that simplifies the API.