abstracting

verb

present participle of abstract
1
as in diverting
to draw the attention or mind to something else personal problems abstracted him so persistently that he struggled to keep his mind on his work

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in summarizing
to make into a short statement of the main points (as of a report) took the 135-page report and abstracted it in three short paragraphs

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of abstracting Also, one of the biggest risks in using generic off-the-shelf AI for abstracting real estate documents is that the AI model can produce and fill in a plausible value, ignoring what the source supports. — Pranit Banthia, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026 This is the gap that Latitude aims to fill by helping firms make fast and affordable international payments by using stablecoin rails while abstracting away the complexity. — Carlos Garcia, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2026 The process of abstracting huge news events into memes has become much faster. — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2026 Over the past 12 months, AWS has continued with this strategy of abstracting AI services away from AI models. — Jason Andersen, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025 There’s very little Dial that is not abstracting and reflecting on one issue after another. — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 21 Oct. 2024 Firefly’s influence in the industry is only growing, solidifying its reputation as a leader in abstracting infrastructure complexity and delivering transformative cloud asset management solutions. — Kody Boye, USA TODAY, 16 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abstracting
  1. diverting
  2. summarizing
  3. distracting
  4. outlining
Verb
  • The complaint accuses Love Renaissance of improperly diverting money from Walker’s touring, recording, marketing, and merchandising budgets, while charging excessive company expenses to those accounts in bad faith.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2026
  • An Avianca flight heading from Colombia to New York was rocked by turbulence, diverting the plane to Miami on Friday and sending several crew members and passengers to the hospital.
    — Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of diverting
Verb
  • Paraphrasing generally restates the original information in different language while retaining the key ideas, whereas summarizing condenses the information into a shorter version.
    — Ethan Stone, Kansas City Star, 16 Oct. 2026
  • This could include summarizing important meetings, recalling interactions, or automatically adding tasks to your to-do list, since Bee can also connect to your apps, such as email.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of summarizing
Verb
  • Today’s computers are approachable, but also distracting, argues Caligra co-founder and CEO Grant Bisset.
    — Daniel Varghese, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Maybe his conning can be curtailed someday, but the thought there’d ever be enough distracting chaos for a similarly lengthy follow-up is almost too much to bear.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of distracting
Verb
  • Complex tasks can require multiple agents generating thousands of words worth of logs outlining their steps, which could feel like trying to monitor a thousand people talking out loud, Riedl said.
    — Lisa Eadicicco, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2026
  • On Thursday, the Yes on Prop 45 campaign published research outlining a lucrative relationship between law firms that specialize in CEQA lawsuits and labor unions.
    — Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of outlining

Browse Nearby Words

abstractedness
abstracting
abstraction
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Abstracting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abstracting. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of fervid

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All