Synonyms of abstraction

abstraction

noun

ab-ˈstrak-shən 

as in idea

something imagined or pictured in the mind

to a people who have lived under one dictatorship after another, democracy and freedom are mere abstractions

Synonyms & Similar Words

• idea
• concept
• conception
• notion
• thought
• impression
• image
• cogitation
• intellection
• picture
• perception
• observation
• reflection
• theory
• illusion
• cognition
• preconception
• assumption
• apprehension
• mind's eye
• belief
• prejudice
• hunch
• delusion
• phantasm
• presentiment
• premonition
• chimera
• vagary
• hallucination
• hypothesis
• prepossession
• conceit
• conviction
• speculation
• conjecture
• caprice
• whim
• fancy
• guess
• conclusion
• inspiration
• supposition
• kink
• brain wave
• surmise
• freak
• brainchild
• brainstorm

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• fact
• reality
• actuality

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of abstraction

Billy’s main creative outlet in her years of solitude has been visual art, and her work—abstractions dominated by the geometric forms of Little Death’s air-vent face—seems like a closed circuit of self-therapy. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 31 July 2026

Corsini and Massimo Vavassori’s script is needlessly cryptic at times, leaving the central figure too much of an abstraction. — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 July 2026

Yet American students and scholars flocked in droves to theory, perceiving in its recondite abstractions a thrilling new way of understanding the world—even, some believed, of changing it. — Emily Eakin, Harpers Magazine, 28 July 2026

The exhibition explores how American abstraction became one of the nation’s most influential contributions to art history. — Michelle F. Solomon, Miami Herald, 23 July 2026