ABSTRACT

Abstract

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript or typescript, acting as the point-of-entry for any given academic paper or patent application. Abstracting and indexing services for various academic disciplines are aimed at compiling a body of literature for that particular subject.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Abstract (summary)
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

abstract

Noun

  1. An abridgement or summary.
  2. Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of larger item, or multiple items. <ref name=SOED/>
    1. Concentrated essence of a product.
    2. A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
  3. An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract. <ref name=SOED/>
  4. The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form. <ref name=SOED/>
  5. An abstract work of art.
  6. A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

Verb

  1. To separate; to disengage. <ref name=SOED/>
  2. To remove; to take away; withdraw. <ref name=SOED/>
  3. To steal; to take away; to remove without permission. <ref name=SOED/>
  4. To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize. <ref name=SOED/>
  5. To extract by means of distillation. <ref name=SOED/>
  6. To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality. <ref name=SOED/>
  7. To withdraw oneself; to retire. <ref name=SOED/>
  8. To draw off (interest or attention).
    He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
  9. To perform the process of abstraction.
  10. To create abstractions.
  11. To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
    He abstracted out the square root function.

Adjective

<ref name=dict/>

  1. Derived; extracted. <ref name=SOED/>
  2. Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate. <ref name=SOED/>
  3. Expressing a property or attribute separately of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object. <ref name=SOED/>
  4. Considered apart from any application to a particular object; not concrete; ideal; non-specific; general, as opposed to specific. <ref name=SOED/>
  5. Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize. <ref name=SOED/>
  6. Absent-minded. <ref name=SOED/>
  7. Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them. <ref name=SOED/>
    1. Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20th century. <ref name=SOED/>
    2. Absolute.
    3. Lacking a story.
  8. Insufficiently factual.
  9. Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
  10. As a noun, denoting an intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
  11. Of a class in object-oriented programming, being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: abstract
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!