Definition of "abstraction" []

• The act of abstracting or the state of having been abstracted. (noun)
• An abstract concept, idea, or term. (noun)
• An abstract quality. (noun)
• Preoccupation; absent-mindedness. (noun)
• An abstract work of art. (noun)
• Absence of mind; preoccupation (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• The process of formulating generalized ideas or concepts by extracting common qualities from specific examples (noun)
• An idea or concept formulated in this way (noun)
• An operator that forms a class name or predicate from any given expression (noun)
• An abstract painting, sculpture, etc (noun)
• The act of withdrawing or removing (noun)

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• "Under the rubric of water resource development, dam building and river fragmentation are the main factors threatening biodiversity, while water abstraction is the main threat to human water security."
• "Boundaries are ubiquitous, and I am convinced the ability to detect boundaries/edges at ever higher levels of abstraction is the key to real fluid intelligence and concept formation."
• "Every level of abstraction is accurate, new, useful, and nonobvious."