abzˈtrakshən, əb-, -bˈst- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French, from Medieval Latin abstraction-, abstractio, from Late Latin, abduction, from Latin abstractus (past participle of abstrahere to draw away, withdraw) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at abstract
1. : the act of drawing or taking away : the state of being drawn or taken away : removal , separation
labels bearing a clearly printed notice of addition or abstraction
in search of seclusion, of loneliness, of … abstraction from the trivial round — Times Literary Supplement
suspected of the abstraction of money from the mail
2.
a. : the act or process of leaving out of consideration one or more qualities of a complex object so as to attend to others (as when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself or the color of the leaves independently of their size or figure)
b. : the act or process of imaginatively isolating or considering apart the common properties or characteristics of distinct objects
abstraction is necessary for the classification of things into genera and species
c. : the formation of a concept or an idea by such an act : the construction of a class name
3.
[probably from abstract (I) + -ion ]
: the result of a mental process of abstracting : an abstract idea or a term expressing such an idea
his style was dense with abstractions
sometimes : a visionary or unrealistic idea
4. : inattention to present objects or surroundings : absence of mind
lost in abstraction
an air of complete abstraction
5. : abstract quality or character
pantomime with a symbolic abstraction that approached ballet
6. fine art : an abstract composition or creation
7. : the merging of two or more streams into a single stream course by the deepening and widening of one valley so that it engulfs a shallower and smaller neighboring valley