abstraction

noun

1. an abstract or general idea or term.
2. the act of considering something as a general quality or characteristic, apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.
3. an impractical idea; something visionary and unrealistic.
4. the act of taking away or separating; withdrawal: The sensation of cold is due to the abstraction of heat from our bodies.
5. secret removal, especially theft.
6. absent-mindedness; inattention; mental absorption.
7. Fine Arts.
   1. the abstract qualities or characteristics of a work of art.
   2. a work of art, especially a nonrepresentational one, stressing formal relationships.

noun

1. absence of mind; preoccupation
2. the process of formulating generalized ideas or concepts by extracting common qualities from specific examples
3. an idea or concept formulated in this waygood and evil are abstractions
4. logic an operator that forms a class name or predicate from any given expressionSee also lambda calculus
5. an abstract painting, sculpture, etc
6. the act of withdrawing or removing

n.

c.1400, “withdrawal from worldly affairs, asceticism,” from Old French abstraction (14c.), from Latin abstractionem (nominative abstractio), noun of action from past participle stem of abstrahere (see abstract (adj.)). Meaning “idea of something that has no actual existence” is from 1640s.

n.

1. Distillation or separation of the volatile constituents of a substance.
2. Exclusive mental concentration; absent-mindedness.
3. A malocclusion in which the teeth or associated structures are lower than their normal occlusal plane.
4. The selection of a certain aspect of a concept from the whole.