How to Use in the abstract in a Sentence

in the abstract

phrase

• This seems, in the abstract, a good cause.
  — David Frum, The Atlantic, 4 Mar. 2026
• But this is not just about fairness in the abstract.
  — Senator Ed Markey, Boston Herald, 15 Apr. 2026
• This is something you can be told, and grasp in the abstract.
  — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2020
• But talking about it in the abstract or after the fact is one thing.
  — Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 13 Dec. 2021
• Oh, and make sure the statements in the abstract match the ones in the paper.
  — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2013
• People think unions are a good idea — in the abstract, and for someone else.
  — Dominic Pino, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024
• This is not just about saving democracy in the abstract.
  — Stacey Abrams, Time, 28 Aug. 2025
• Damn the rich in the open and in the abstract, court them in the concrete and secret of darkness.
  — Victor Davis Hanson, Arkansas Online, 5 Dec. 2022
• But none of that stopped them from writing the exact opposite in the abstract.
  — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023
• Because that’s what Harlan was in the abstract, in his prime and after.
  — Jason Sheehan, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2024
• There’s no such thing as a perfect Mother’s Day gift—not in the abstract.
  — Chuong Nguyen, Ars Technica, 25 Apr. 2023
• But voting for a tribe swap in the abstract and voting for a tribe swap in the third episode are two different things.
  — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2026
• In the end, though, trust isn’t a property that can be measured in the abstract, like some sort of social ether.
  — The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021
• The lesson of Apple is that freedom of the press doesn’t exist in the abstract.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 21 June 2021
• Balance is a quality that is ideal in the abstract, but wine is not an abstraction.
  — Lettie Teague, WSJ, 20 Jan. 2022
• While many automakers are happy to talk about the end of combustion engines, most tend to do so in the abstract.
  — Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 5 Nov. 2020
• Indeed, Americans tend to take a dim view of their healthcare system in the abstract.
  — Sally Pipes, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
• Most of us like criticism in the abstract and solicit it constantly.
  — Sachin H. Jain, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
• The pleasures of poetry, meanwhile, are so rooted in the abstract and ephemeral that not getting the point can be the point.
  — David Amsden, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
• In this contemporary dining room, the cool sage green wall color balances out the warmth of the fiery orange in the abstract piece of art.
  — Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 Jan. 2025
• These were not beavers in the abstract sense, not representatives of a species, but instead two specific beavers, a pair.
  — Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
• Men, however, are afraid not only of specific enemies, but of death in the abstract.
  — Avis D. Carlson, Harper's Magazine, 23 June 2020
• Iran’s potential weaponizing of the Strait of Hormuz was only in the abstract then.
  — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026
• This description may be accurate in the abstract, but in practice health insurance does not work this way in our country.
  — Star Tribune, 10 July 2021
• Much of the debate over the issue now seems to occur in the abstract, concerned with the sanctity of life and the metaphysics of conception.
  — John Anderson, WSJ, 7 June 2022
• But in the abstract, nothing in the standings comes close to how paramount helping those in need around them is during this unimaginable travesty.
  — Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025
• With a sizzling new music video that dips in the abstract, Kara’s larger than life message is reaching listeners across the country.
  — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 29 Sep. 2023
• Power can be lawful in the abstract and antidemocratic in its application.
  — Stephanie A, The Conversation, 23 Feb. 2026
• The works are meant to be experienced in the abstract instead of deciphered literally.
  — Ray Mark Rinaldi, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
• The problem is that there is a paradox in the aftermath of satisfying a desire that, for most people, only exists in the abstract.
  — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2024