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Material vs Abstract - What's the difference?

material | abstract |

As nouns the difference between material and abstract

is that material is material (matter which may be shaped or manipulated) while abstract is abstract.

material

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having to do with matter; consisting of matter.
  • This compound has a number of interesting material properties.
  • * Whewell
  • the material elements of the universe
  • Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.
  • Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.
  • Significant.
  • You've made several material contributions to this project.
    This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.
  • * Evelyn
  • discourse, which was always material , never trifling
  • * John Locke
  • I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose.

    Antonyms

    * (wordly) spiritual * (significant) immaterial

    Derived terms

    * material breach * material cause * material girl * material world

    Noun

    (wikipedia material) (en noun)
  • (senseid)Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=Lee A. Groat, volume=100, issue=2, page=128
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Gemstones , passage=Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)}}
  • (senseid)Text written for a specific purpose.
  • (senseid)A sample or specimens for study.
  • *
  • With fresh material', taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the '''material''' examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium ' material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • (senseid)Cloth to be made into a garment.
  • *
  • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.
  • (senseid)A person who is qualified for a certain position or activity.
  • (senseid)Related data of various kinds, especially if collected as the basis for a document or book.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • The substance that something is made or composed of.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , passage=As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * materialism * materialist * material culture * material science * materials science * postmaterialism * postmaterialist * raw material

    See also

    * materiel

    Verb

    (materiall)
  • (obsolete) To form from matter; to materialize.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
  • I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is left in the same state after death as before it was materialled unto life.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    abstract

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) abstractus, perfect passive participle of .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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.
  • Usage notes
    * (theoretical way of looking at things) Preceded, typically, by the .
    Synonyms
    * (statement summarizing the important points of a text) abridgment, compendium, epitome, synopsis
    Derived terms
    * abstract of title

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • (obsolete) Derived; extracted.
  • (now, rare) Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.
  • * 17th century , , The Oxford Dictionary :
  • The more abstract we are from the body ... the more fit we shall be to behold divine light.
  • 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
  • abstract , as in a trance
  • *
  • (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.
  • Synonyms
    * (not applied or practical) conceptual, theoretical * (insufficiently factual) formal * (difficult to understand) abstruse
    Antonyms
    * (not applied or practical) applied, practical * (considered apart from concrete existence) concrete
    Derived terms
    * abstractly * abstractness * abstract idea * abstract noun * abstract numbers * abstract terms
    See also
    * reify

    Etymology 2

    First attested in 1542. Partly from' English abstract (adjective form), ' and from (etyl) abstrat past participle of .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • 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
  • He was incapable of forming any opinion or resolution abstracted from his own prejudices.
  • (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.
  • (Franklin)
  • (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.
  • He was wholly abstracted by other objects.
  • (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".
  • He abstracted out the square root function.
    Usage notes
    * (to separate or disengage) Followed by the word from . * (to withdraw oneself) Followed by the word from . * (to summarize) Pronounced predominately as /?æb?strækt/. * All other senses are pronounced as /æb?strækt/.
    Synonyms
    * remove, separate, take away, withdraw * abridge, epitomize, summarize * filch, purloin, steal
    Derived terms
    * abstractable * abstracted * abstracter * abstractor

    References

    * English heteronyms ----