abstracted

English

Etymology

abstract + -ed

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əb.ˈstɹæk.tɪd/
    • (file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /əb.ˈstɹæk.tɪd/, /æb.ˈstɹæk.tɪd/

Adjective

abstracted (comparative more abstracted, superlative most abstracted)

  1. Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][1]
  2. (now rare) Separated from matter; abstract; ideal, not concrete. [First attested in the early 17th century.][1]
  3. (now rare) Abstract; abstruse; difficult. [First attested in the early 17th century.][1]
    • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section IX. A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth.”, in A Tale of a Tub. [], London: [] John Nutt, [], →OCLC, pages 169–170:
      The preſent Argument is the moſt abſtracted that ever I engaged in, it ſtrains my Faculties to their higheſt Stretch; and I deſire the Reader to attend with utmoſt perpenſity; For, I now proceed to unravel this knotty Point.
  4. Inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind; meditative. [First attested in the early 17th century.][1]
    ...an abstracted scholar...
    • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, page 57:
      I'm afraid neither of us was looking where we were going. We Adrians are notoriously abstracted, are we not?

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

abstracted

  1. simple past and past participle of abstract

References

  1. Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abstracted”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.
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