abstraction – English noun declension

English noun forms of abstraction

Noun: abstraction
Singularabstraction
Pluralabstractions

Sample Sentences

  • The cancelling of the debt would be no destruction of wealth, but a transfer of it: a wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community, for the profit of the government, or of the tax-payers. [1848, J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy with some of their Applications to Social Philosophy:]
  • a hermit’s abstraction
  • Holonym: induction
  • Abstraction is no positive act: it is simply the negative of attention. [c. 1837, W. Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, published 1860, Lecture XXXV, page 474:]
  • Abstraction is necessary for the classification of things into genera and species.
  • to fight for mere abstractions
  • "One penny, sir!" He was roused at once from his abstraction; for it was a question to himself whether he had even that in his pocket. Sixpence was, however, discovered; he paid the toll, and passed on. [1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 55:]
  • At one point, her spidery abstractions gave way to a series of abruptly syncopated hits, like a deranged allusion to the Thelonious Monk tune “Evidence.” [2015 June 18, Nate Chinen, “Review: Eric Revis Trio Lets the Music Lead the Way at the Jazz Gallery”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022:]
  • Files are an abstraction provided by the file system for storing data, so that applications do not have to care how that data is stored.

Etymology

From Middle English abstraccyone; either from Middle French abstraction or from Medieval Latin abstrāctiō (“separation”), from Latin abstrahō (“draw away”). Equivalent to abstract + -ion. See: Middle English Nouns 'abstraccyone', Latin Nouns 'abstrahō'.

Verbs referencing "abstraction"

Swedish Nouns abstraktion, Finnish Nouns abstraktio, Polish Nouns abstrakcja.