abstract

Related to abstract: abstract noun, Abstract class

abstract (something) from (something or some place)

1. To take something without permission. Despite all of the company's security measures, hackers abstracted classified information from the server.
2. To extract key information from a longer document or text. I had to abstract all of the relevant information from that lengthy report and then present it to management.
See also: abstract

abstract away

1. To eliminate, omit, or disregard the details of something in order to generalize or simplify it at a conceptual level. A noun or pronoun can be used between "abstract" and "away." Remember that you will be delivering the results of your work to members of the public, so try to abstract away the more complicated aspects of the scientific theory. The agency abstracted the more sensitive details of the incident away, leaving a heavily redacted report that only revealed what happened in broad strokes.
2. In computer science, to hide, obscure, or mask the details of some process in order to simplify its functionality for the sake of usability. A noun or pronoun can be used between "abstract" and "away." Even simple actions on the computer create incredibly complicated processes in the software, but programmers have abstracted away the more nitty-gritty details in order to keep the average user from getting overwhelmed.
See also: abstract, away

abstract idea

An idea or thought that is intangible or outside the constraints or possibilities of the real world. Some regard love as but an abstract idea, as it is impossible to define what makes love real.
See also: abstract, idea

in the abstract

In a manner that is intangible or outside the constraints or possibilities of the real world. Love is something that exists in the abstract—it's very hard to define what makes love real.
See also: abstract
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

abstract something from someone or something

to steal something from someone or something. (Formal.) The officer was found guilty of abstracting a rather large amount of money from the company.
See also: abstract

abstract something from something

to take the important information from a longer document; to extract the essentials or the gist from a piece of complicated writing. Can you abstract a shorter article from this material?
See also: abstract
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

in the abstract

In a way that is conceptual or theoretical, as opposed to actual or empirical.
See also: abstract
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • abstract (something) from (something or some place)
  • abstract from
  • abstracted
  • clearance
  • get (the) clearance to (do something)
  • give (one) (the) clearance to (do something)
  • leak (something) to (someone or something)
  • leak to
  • give under threat of
References in periodicals archive
Although the time interval from abstract presentation to publication in this study was relatively short, it is obvious that more than half of the abstracts have not been published.
Features and publication rates of scientific abstracts presented at a Rheumatology Congress EULAR 2008
Abstracts that are selected for oral presentation must be delivered by an author who speaks and understands English well enough to ensure satisfactory understanding by the audience at the Annual Symposium.
Pakistan Endocrine Society invites abstracts for its 10th annual symposium
An abstract must be complete and should cover the major components of the research project.
How to develop an outstanding conference research abstract
SUBMISSION DEADLINE Submit abstracts for review by Friday, July 13, 2012.
Call for abstracts
4 The paper should include: title, author's name(s), affiliation and present address, acknowledgement, abstract (200 words maximum), an introduction, content, a conclusion, and a reference section (boldface is mine)
Comparative study on textual space of journal articles' abstracts
Reconsidering the abstract: Are the unintended consequences mounting?
Use and abuse of abstracts
Nearly every journal's information/instructions for authors state what type of abstract is required, so ignorance is no excuse for preparing an abstract improperly.
The abstract and the elevator talk: a tale of two summaries
The current abstract rating process is flawed for methodological reasons.
Improving the annual conference of the society for social work and research
Recommendations by the CONSORT (4) declaration, in its adaptation for abstracts, offer a guide for the elaboration of an abstract of a clinical trial in structured and informative manner, using up to 400 words and briefly including the Title, Methods (participants, interventions, objective, outcomes, randomization, blind tests), Results (number of randomizations, recruitment, number of analyses, outcome, important adverse effects), and Conclusions, registry of the clinical trial and conflict of interests.
El resumen: la carta de presentacion de un trabajo cientifico
Presenters will be notified by email June 3 if their abstract has been accepted.
APHA seeks abstracts for 2019 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia
Objective: The aim of our study is to examine the Publication Rate of Congress of Turkish Society of Colorectal Surgery meeting abstracts and determine the factors affecting publication rate.
Publication rates of abstracts presented at the annual congress of the Turkish Society of Colorectal Surgery (years 2003-2011)
We subsequently calculated the time of full-text publication in months as being the time between the date of abstract presentation and the date of full-text publication (not the e-pub time).
The publication rates of pediatric rheumatology abstracts presented in European League Against Rheumatism (2009) congress
In 2004 [1], the author reported the then current findings from research on structured abstracts and followed this up with a similar paper in 2014 [2].
What's new in abstracts of science articles?
If you answered yes to any of the questions, share your research by submitting your abstract for SCNA State Convention in 2016.
SCNA Convention, Annual Meeting, and APRN Fall Pharm Conference. (Nursing: A Kaleidoscope of Practices)
Providence-based abstract expressionist Edwin Wilwayco is now focused on small things like bubbles, dots, fractions, fragments, and spots, chasing them with whirling hands to restructure nature-bound abstract art works that he is known for, and, for many viewers, to approximate the infinite in his canvases.
Holding patterns