ETYM Latin abstractus, p. p. of abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw. Related to Trace.
1. Based on specialized theory; SYN. theoretical.
2. Dealing with a subject in the abstract without practical purpose or intention.<br /> 3. Existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment.
4. Not representing or imitating external reality or the objects of nature; SYN. abstractionist, nonfigurative, nonobjective.

Plural: abstracts

1. That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things; specifically: a summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief.
2. A state of separation from other things
3. An abstract term.
4. A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar and milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.

ETYM Latin abstrahere to draw from, separate; ab, abs + trahere to draw.
1. To remove a part from a whole.
2. To consider apart from a particular case or instance.
3. To consider a concept without thinking of a specific example; consider abstractly or theoretically.
4. To give an abstract or summary of.

Plural: abstract algebras

Plural: abstract arts

Nonrepresentational art. Ornamental art without figurative representation occurs in most cultures. The modern abstract movement in sculpture and painting emerged in Europe and North America between 1910 and 1920. Two approaches produce different abstract styles: images that have been “abstracted” from nature to the point where they no longer reflect a conventional reality, and nonobjective, or “pure”, art forms, without any reference to reality.
history
Abstract art began in the avant-garde movements of the late 19th century— Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. These styles of painting reduced the importance of the original subject matter and began to emphasize the creative process of painting itself. In the first decade of the 20th century, some painters in Europe began to abandon the established Western conventions of imitating nature and of storytelling and developed a new artistic form and expression.
abstract artists
Wassily Kandinsky is generally regarded as the first abstract artist. From 1910 to 1914 he worked on two series, Improvisations and Compositions, in which he moved gradually toward total abstraction. His highly colored canvases influenced many younger European artists. In France around 1907, the Cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque also developed a semiabstract style; their pictures, some partly collage, were composed mainly of fragmented natural images. By 1912 Robert Delaunay had pushed Cubism to complete abstraction.
Many variations of abstract art developed in Europe and Russia, as shown in the work of Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich, the Futurists, the Vorticists, and the Dadaists. Sculptors were inspired by the new freedom in form and content, and Constantin Brancusi’s versions of The Kiss 1907–12 are among the earliest semiabstract sculptures. Cubist-inspired sculptors such as Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876–1918) and Jacques Lipchitz moved further toward abstraction, as did the Dadaist Hans Arp.
US art
Two exhibitions of European art, one in New York 1913 (the Armory Show), the other in San Francisco 1917, opened the way for abstraction in US art. Many painters, including the young Georgia O'Keeffe, experimented with new styles. Morgan Russell (1886–1953) and Stanton Macdonald-Wright (1890–1973) invented their own abstract style, Synchromism, a rival to Orphism, a similar style developed in France by Delaunay. Both movements emphasized color over form.
later developments
Abstract art has dominated Western art from 1920 and has continued to produce many variations. In the 1940s it gained renewed vigor in the works of the Abstract Expressionists, and in the 1950s Minimal art developed as a more impersonal, simplified style of abstraction.

Plural: abstract classes

A class that contains one or more abstract methods, and therefore can never be instantiated.
1. In object-oriented programming, a class in which no objects can be created. It is, however, used to defined subclasses, and objects are created from the subclasses. See also object (definition 2). Compare concrete class. 2. In Java programming, a class that contains one or more abstract methods and therefore can never be instantiated. Abstract classes are defined so that other classes can extend them and make them concrete by implementing the abstract methods. See also class, instantiate, Java, method, object (definition 2). Compare concrete class.

Plural: abstract data types

In programming, a data set defined by the programmer in terms of the information it can contain and the operations that can be performed with it. An abstract data type is more generalized than a data type constrained by the properties of the objects it contains—for example, the data type “pet” is more generalized than the data types “pet dog,” “pet bird,” and “pet fish.” The standard example used in illustrating an abstract data type is the stack, a small portion of memory used to store information, generally on a temporary basis. As an abstract data type, the stack is simply a structure onto which values can be pushed (added) and from which they can be popped (removed). The type of value, such as integer, is irrelevant to the definition.The way in which the program performs operations on abstract data types is encapsulated, or hidden, from the rest of the program. Encapsulation enables the programmer to change the definition of the data type or its operations without introducing errors to the existing code that uses the abstract data type. Abstract data types represent an intermediate step between traditional programming and object-oriented programming. See also data type, object-oriented programming.

Plural: abstract machines

A design for a processor that is not meant for implementation but that represents a model for processing abstract machine language. Its instruction set can use instructions that more closely resemble the compiled language than the instructions used by an actual computer. It can also be used to make the implementation of the language more portable to other platforms.