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The Crisscrossing Histories of Abstract and Extract
Abstract is most frequently used as an adjective (“abstract ideas”) and a noun (“an abstract of the article”), but its somewhat less common use as a verb in English helps to clarify its Latin roots. The verb abstract is used to mean “summarize,” as in “abstracting an academic paper.” This meaning is a figurative derivative of the verb’s meanings “to remove” or “to separate.”
We trace the origins of abstract to the combination of the Latin roots ab-, a prefix meaning “from” or “away,” with the verb trahere, meaning “to pull” or “to draw.” The result was the Latin verb abstrahere, which meant “to remove forcibly” or “to drag away.” Its past participle abstractus had the meanings “removed,” “secluded,” “incorporeal,” and, ultimately, “summarized,” meanings which came to English from Medieval Latin.
Interestingly, the word passed from Latin into French with competing spellings as both abstract (closer to the Latin) and abstrait (which reflected the French form of abstrahere, abstraire), the spelling retained in modern French.
The idea of “removing” or “pulling away” connects abstract to extract, which stems from Latin through the combination of trahere with the prefix ex-, meaning “out of” or “away from.” Extract forms a kind of mirror image of abstract: more common as a verb, but also used as a noun and adjective. The adjective, meaning “derived or descended,” is now obsolete, as is a sense of the noun that overlapped with abstract, “summary.” The words intersected and have separated in modern English, but it’s easy to see that abstract applies to something that has been summarized, and summarized means “extracted from a larger work.”
Synonyms
Examples of extract in a Sentence
Emily Orofino, Vogue, 21 Nov. 2024
Once the pine cones are collected, they're brought to a network of nurseries, where the seeds are extracted and grown into seedlings.
—Jonathan Vigliotti, CBS News, 20 Nov. 2024
Rachel King, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
This fast-absorption formula is powered by amaranth seed extract and a five oil blend to replenish hair’s natural lipids—leaving you with silky smooth strands and optimal shine.
—Jenny Berg, Vogue, 1 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near extract
Cite this Entry
“Extract.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extract. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
extract
1 of 2 verb
extract
2 of 2 noun
Medical Definition
extract
1 of 2 transitive verb
extract
2 of 2 noun
Legal Definition
extract
noun
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