Abstraction

Research

A concept or principle generalised away from specific examples; the level of generality at which a claim operates.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — abstraction merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster’s first sense is the plain one: “the act or process of abstracting : the state of being abstracted”. First recorded in the fifteenth century. The root idea is something drawn away from its original context — which is exactly the trade an abstraction makes: generality bought by leaving particulars behind. Whether that trade was worth it is the question to ask of any abstraction in an argument.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage above is this lexicon’s own.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation
• Anonymity

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).