abstraction

Setting aside Pearl Harbor, any real threat to the “homeland” was mostly an abstraction in itself.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

Farmers source water for their crops and livestock over summer from a combination of stored winter rainfall on site, and by extracting it from natural sources - a process called abstraction.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

For much of the novel, we inhabit the consciousness of Lok, a young male Neanderthal who hasn’t yet acquired the habits of abstraction on which narrative usually depends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

For a lot of people, this is still an abstraction.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

It was simply that nobody could figure out what to do with such an abstraction.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

First, practice distinguishing between what the Constitution says and what judges and justices say about the Constitution, a document riddled with aspirational vagaries and flexible abstractions.

From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026

Across a remarkably varied oeuvre of more than 9,000 small‑ and easel‑scale abstractions, Klee drew deeply from art and nature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

It creates abstractions of the real world that allow it to assess the outcomes of actions.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Power and policy are not abstractions — they impact real people’s bodies, minds and lives, and they affect the well-being of the larger community.

From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2026

When there was laughter at a joke he didn’t understand Frankie laughed delightedly behind his chair and when the conversation dealt with abstractions his brow furrowed and he became intent and serious.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck