Abstract vs Existential - What's the difference?
abstract | existential | Related terms |
An abridgement or summary.
* — An abstract of every treatise he had read.
Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of larger item, or multiple items.
* — Man, the abstract Of all perfection, which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modeled.
# Concentrated essence of a product.
# (medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.
An abstraction; an term; that which is abstract.
* — The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety".
The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.
(arts) An abstract work of art.
(real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.
(obsolete) Derived; extracted.
(now, rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
* 17th century , , The Oxford Dictionary :
Expressing a property or attribute separately of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object.
Considered apart from any application to a particular object; not concrete; ideal; non-specific; general, as opposed to specific.
* - A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract' name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced by Locke, has gained currency from his example, of applying the expression "' abstract name" to all names which are the result of abstraction and generalization, and consequently to all general names, instead of confining it to the names of attributes.
Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.
*
(archaic) Absent-minded.
* Milton
*
(arts) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.
# (arts, often, capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20th century.
# (music) Absolute.
# (dance) Lacking a story.
Insufficiently factual.
Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.
(grammar) As a noun, denoting an intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.
(computing) Of a class in object-oriented programming, being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.
To separate; to disengage.
* - He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices.
To remove; to take away; withdraw.
*
* Sir Walter Scott
(euphemistic) To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.
* - Von Rosen had quietly abstracted the bearing-reins from the harness.
To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.
(obsolete) To extract by means of distillation.
*
To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.
*
(intransitive, reflexive, literally, figuratively) To withdraw oneself; to retire.
To draw off (interest or attention).
* , Blackwood's Magazine - The young stranger had been abstracted and silent.
(rare) To perform the process of abstraction.
* - I own myself able to abstract in one sense.
(fine arts) To create abstractions.
(computing) To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".
English heteronyms
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Of, or relating to existence.
Based on experience; empirical.
(philosophy) Of, or relating to existentialism.
(linguistics) That part of a sentence indicating existence e.g. "there is".
Abstract is a related term of existential.
As a noun abstract
is abstract.As an adjective existential is
of, or relating to existence.abstract
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) abstractus, perfect passive participle of .Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
* (theoretical way of looking at things) Preceded, typically, by the .Synonyms
* (statement summarizing the important points of a text) abridgment, compendium, epitome, synopsisDerived terms
* abstract of titleAdjective
(en-adj)- The more abstract we are from the body ... the more fit we shall be to behold divine light.
- abstract , as in a trance
Synonyms
* (not applied or practical) conceptual, theoretical * (insufficiently factual) formal * (difficult to understand) abstruseAntonyms
* (not applied or practical) applied, practical * (considered apart from concrete existence) concreteDerived terms
* abstractly * abstractness * abstract idea * abstract noun * abstract numbers * abstract termsSee also
* reifyEtymology 2
First attested in 1542. Partly from' English abstract (adjective form), ' and from (etyl) abstrat past participle of .Verb
(en verb)- He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices.
- (Franklin)
- He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
- He abstracted out the square root function.