abstracted

English

Etymology

From abstract +‎ -ed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əbˈstɹæk.tɪd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /əbˈstɹæk.tɪd/, /æbˈstɹæk.tɪd/

Adjective

abstracted (comparative more abstracted, superlative most abstracted)

1. Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     the evil abstracted stood
     From his own evil, […]

2. (now rare) Separated from matter; abstract; ideal, not concrete. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
   • 1796–1797, Edmund Burke, “Letters on a Regicide Peace, Continued from Vol. VIII. Letter IV. To the Earl Fitzwilliam.”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume IX, London: […] [R. Gilbert] for C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1826, →OCLC, page 1:

     I am not sure, that the best way of discussing any subject, except those, that concern the abstracted sciences, is not somewhat in the way of dialogue.

3. (now rare) Abstract; abstruse; difficult. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
   • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section IX. A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 169–170:

     The preſent Argument is the moſt abſtracted that ever I engaged in, it ſtrains my Faculties to their higheſt Stretch; and I deſire the Reader to attend with utmoſt perpenſity; For, I now proceed to unravel this knotty Point.

4. Inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind; meditative. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]

   an abstracted scholar

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 40:

     I'm afraid neither of us was looking where we were going. We Adrians are notoriously abstracted, are we not?

Derived terms

• abstractedly
• abstractedness
• nonabstracted
• unabstracted

 

Translations

separated or disconnected

• Dutch: absent (nl), afwezig (nl), in gedachten verdiept
• Portuguese: abstraído (pt)

inattentive to surrounding objects

• Dutch: verstrooid (nl)
• French: distrait (fr) m
• Irish: aislingeach, brionglóideach, neamhairdiúil, seachránach
• Portuguese: abstraído (pt), absorto (pt), distraído (pt)

Verb

abstracted

1. simple past and past participle of abstract