abstract entity
- noun
- /ˈæbstrækt ˈɛntɪti/
- A work is an abstract entity; there is no single material object one can point to as the work.
Examples
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By turning an abstract entity into an agent embodying a moral value, the value was understood through its personification.
Academic text (2002) -
Governments and societies are abstract entities, perhaps even unfeeling.
Academic text (2005) -
The labels make it possible to talk about these abstract entities.
Academic text (1997) -
Geometry is an analysis of abstract entities best conceived in ideal space and best explored on paper.
Academic text (2003) -
For Hegel, isolated parts are abstract entities that can only be understood subjectively without the objectifying influence of the context or system to which they belong.
Academic text (2003) -
According to Mates, when Leibniz speaks of possible worlds in the mind of God, he should not be taken to be committed to a Platonistic ontology of abstract entities.
Academic text (1998) -
My prediction is that within 10 years, today's cloud computing diaspora will be viewed as one abstract entity, a common seamless pool of resources to build, deploy, and apply solutions.
Blog text (34) -
A government is an abstract entity that operates through laws and policies rather than as a tangible object.
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In philosophy, an abstract entity is a concept, such as love or freedom, that cannot be physically observed.
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Mathematics studies abstract entities like numbers and shapes that exist only in our thoughts.
Synonyms
∞
4.5
An idea you get after seeing many examples, like freedom
25
8.0
Making a simple idea from many details to show what is common
16
8.0
A general idea not tied to a specific example
Antonyms
How Abstract
- Specialized
65
8.0
∞
4.5
- Specialized
798
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'abstract' (not concrete; existing in thought) modifying 'entity' (a thing that exists) yields 'an entity that exists only in thought or as a concept.' This adjective+noun pattern is transparent and cross‑linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The term abstract entity comes from a simple image: abstract means 'pulled away' from the real world and entity means a 'thing'. So it shows a 'thing' that exists only in the mind and is 'not physical', which is why we use it for ideas like justice or love.