ab·stract[Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[adj. ab-strakt, ab-strakt; n. ab-strakt; v. ab-strakt]
1. thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea. 2. expressing a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object or instance, as justice, poverty, and speed. 3. Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation: abstract painting and sculpture. 4. something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.