Englishfor English speakers
abstract
Adjective
—
If something is abstract, you cannot touch it, and it is difficult to imagine or think about.
A lot of abstract painting uses harsh shapes and most people do not like it.
More abstract ideas like "democracy" are not possible for animals.
Houses and books are things you can touch. Honesty, patience and courage are abstract.
—
If something is abstract, it is general.
—
If something is abstract, it is thought of as apart from any other use with an object; it is removed from it; it is separate or abstracted.
—
If something is abstract, it is not practical or realistic; it is not concrete; it is theoretical; it is vague.
—
If something is abstract, it does not have all of the facts; it is not factual.
abstract
Noun
—
An abstract is a short text that tells you the main ideas of a longer text, especially of scientific papers; it is a summary of something longer.
The abstract of Isaac Newton's laws of gravity may be no more than 150 words.
—
An abstract is an abstraction; it is an abstract word.
—
An abstract is a piece of art that is made in the abstract fashion of art.
—
An abstract is a powdered solid extract of a vegetable that is then mixed with the sugar of milk.
abstract
Verb
—
If you abstract something, you summarize it; you abridge it.
—
If you abstract something, you separate it; you remove it.
—
If you abstract something, you withdraw it.
—
If you abstract something, you make abstractions of it in art.
—
If you abstract something, you take it away from someone without permission; you steal it.
—
If you abstract something, you think about it separate from everything else; you consider it abstractly.
—
If you abstract something, you go through the process or abstraction.
labour
Noun
—
Labour is the work that people do, usually lifting, moving, building, etc. rather than desk work.
The cost of labour is higher than the cost of building materials.
—
Labour is the people who do this kind of work.
There's a big labour shortage in the construction industry.
—
Labour is the name of a big political party in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
Labour won the election.
labour
Verb
—
If you labour, you work hard.
He laboured over the food all afternoon to get ready for dinner.
—
If you labour the point, you keep talking about it after people understand it well.