disassociated from any specific instance. difficult to understand: ABSTRUSE. insufficiently factual: FORMAL. expressing a quality apart from an object. dealing with a subject in its abstract aspects: THEORETICAL. IMPERSONAL, DETACHED. having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content. a summary of points (as of a writing) usually presented in skeletal form. an abstract thing or state (see ABSTRACT entry 1). ABSTRACTION sense 4a. to make a summary or abstract of: SUMMARIZE. to draw away the attention of. STEAL, PURLOIN. REMOVE, SEPARATE. to consider apart from application to or association with a particular instance. to make an abstraction.