Basic Details
Word: Abstract
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Existing as an idea or a feeling rather than as a thing you can see or touch. Abstract art uses shapes and colours instead of showing real objects.
Synonyms: theoretical, conceptual
Antonyms: concrete, real, physical
How to Spell Abstract
Syllables: ab - stract
Tricky part: Two t's but in separate places: one after the s and one at the very end. The final ct is often written ck or k by students who spell by sound.
Watch out for: abstrac, abstrakt, abstarct
Memory tip: Ab + tract. A tractor pulls things; an abstract idea has been pulled away from real objects. Keep the s in between: ab-s-tract.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Freedom and justice are abstract ideas, but a ballot box is not.
Example 2: Dadi could not understand the abstract painting of blue squares in the gallery.
Example 3: Our maths teacher draws diagrams to make abstract problems easier to follow.
Fun Fact
Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter, is often named as one of the first artists to make purely abstract paintings, in the years around 1910.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word abstract as used in the sentence:
Courage is an abstract quality, so the teacher asked us to show it through a story.
a) notional
b) theoretical
c) concrete
d) vague
Show answer
c) concrete. Concrete things can be seen and touched; theoretical and notional mean nearly the same as abstract.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The poet's language was so ttraasbc that few readers understood the poem.
a) attracts
b) subtract
c) abstract
d) abstain
Show answer
c) abstract. Only abstract describes language that is hard to picture, and it uses every letter: two a's, two t's, b, s, r and c.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
During the art festival in Kochi, many visitors stood puzzled in front of a huge abstrakt canvas covered in red and black stripes.
a) puzzled
b) abstrakt
c) festival
d) visitors
Show answer
b) abstrakt. The hard sound at the end of abstract is written ct, the same as in contract and extract.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. abstract 2. scupture 3. galary 4. portriat
a) existing as an idea rather than as a real object
b) a painting or photograph of a person
c) a room or building where works of art are shown
d) art made by carving or shaping stone, wood or metal
Show answer
a) existing as an idea rather than as a real object. Sculpture needs an l, portrait ends in -ait and gallery has double l and an e, leaving abstract.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Pick the abstract noun from this list.
a) a mango
b) a river
c) happiness
d) a cricket bat
Show answer
c) happiness
2. An abstract of a science paper is ____.
a) a short summary of it
b) a list of its mistakes
c) a drawing on its cover
d) its title page
Show answer
a) a short summary of it
