Extract vs. Abstract — What's the Difference?

To draw out or remove from a particular source.

A brief summary capturing the main points of a larger work.

A substance derived from a specific source, often concentrated.

Art that does not represent reality and uses shapes and colors for effect.

To derive or obtain from a particular reference.

To summarize or condense information.

A section or passage taken from a larger work.

Considered apart from concrete existence

The essence or main component of something.

Not applied or practical; theoretical.

An extract is a substance made by extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol, oil or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures, absolutes or in powder form.

Difficult to understand; abstruse

Remove or take out, especially by effort or force

Denoting something that is immaterial, conceptual, or nonspecific, as an idea or quality

Calculate (a root of a number)

Impersonal, as in attitude or views.

A short passage taken from a text, film, or piece of music

Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation

A preparation containing the active ingredient of a substance in concentrated form

A statement summarizing the important points of a text.

To draw or pull out, often with great force or effort

Something abstract.

To obtain despite resistance

An abstract of title.

To obtain from a substance by chemical or mechanical action, as by pressure, distillation, or evaporation.

To take away; remove

To remove for separate consideration or publication; excerpt.

To remove without permission; steal

To derive or obtain (information, for example) from a source.

To consider (an idea, for example) as separate from particular examples or objects

To deduce (a principle or doctrine); construe (a meaning).

(ăbstrăkt′) To write a summary of; summarize

To derive (pleasure or comfort) from an experience.

To create artistic abstractions of (something else, such as a concrete object or another style)

(Mathematics) To determine or calculate (the root of a number).

An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.

A passage from a literary work; an excerpt.

Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.

A concentrated preparation of the essential constituents of a food, flavoring, or other substance; a concentrate

Concentrated essence of a product.

Something that is extracted or drawn out.

(medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.

A portion of a book or document, incorporated distinctly in another work; a citation; a quotation.

An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.

A decoction, solution, or infusion made by drawing out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue

The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.

Any substance extracted is such a way, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained

(arts) An abstract work of art.

A solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug, etc., or the fresh juice of a plant (distinguished from an abstract).

(real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

(obsolete) A peculiar principle (fundamental essence) once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts.

(obsolete) Derived; extracted.

Ancestry; descent.

Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.

A draft or copy of writing; a certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgment therein, with an order for execution.

Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.

(transitive) To draw out; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.

Insufficiently factual.

(transitive) To withdraw by expression, distillation, or other mechanical or chemical process. Compare abstract (transitive verb).

Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.

(transitive) To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.

(grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.

(transitive) To select parts of a whole

Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.

To determine (a root of a number).

Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.

To draw out or forth; to pull out; to remove forcibly from a fixed position, as by traction or suction, etc.; as, to extract a tooth from its socket, a stump from the earth, a splinter from the finger.

Pertaining comprehensively to, or representing, a class or group of objects, as opposed to any specific object; considered apart from any application to a particular object: general, generic, nonspecific; representational.

To take by selection; to choose out; to cite or quote, as a passage from a book.

(archaic) Absent-minded.

That which is extracted or drawn out.

(arts) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.

A portion of a book or document, separately transcribed; a citation; a quotation.

Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20^th century.

A decoction, solution, or infusion made by dissolving out from any substance that which gives it its essential and characteristic virtue; essence; as, extract of beef; extract of dandelion; also, any substance so extracted, and characteristic of that from which it is obtained; as, quinine is the most important extract of Peruvian bark.

(music) Absolute.

A peculiar principle once erroneously supposed to form the basis of all vegetable extracts; - called also the extractive principle.

(dance) Lacking a story.

Extraction; descent.

Being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

A draught or copy of writing; certified copy of the proceedings in an action and the judgement therein, with an order for execution.

(transitive) To separate; to disengage.

A solution obtained by steeping or soaking a substance (usually in water)

(transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw.

A passage selected from a larger work;

To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.

Draw or pull out, usually with some force or effort; also used in an abstract sense;

(transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.

Get despite difficulties or obstacles;

To conceptualize an ideal subgroup by means of the generalization of an attribute, as follows: by apprehending an attribute inherent to one individual, then separating that attribute and contemplating it by itself, then conceiving of that attribute as a general quality, then despecifying that conceived quality with respect to several or many individuals, and by then ideating a group composed of those individuals perceived to possess said quality.

Deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning);

To extract by means of distillation.

Extract by the process of distillation;

(transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.

Separate (a metal) from an ore

To withdraw oneself; to retire.

Obtain from a substance, as by mechanical action;

(transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).

Take out of a literary work in order to cite or copy

To perform the process of abstraction.

Calculate the root of a number

To create abstractions.

To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".

Withdraw; separate.

Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.

Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; - opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word.

Abstracted; absent in mind.

To withdraw; to separate; to take away.

To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.

To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.

To epitomize; to abridge.

To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.

To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.

To perform the process of abstraction.

That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief.

A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.

An abstract term.

A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.

A concept or idea not associated with any specific instance;

A sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory

Consider a concept without thinking of a specific example; consider abstractly or theoretically

Make off with belongings of others

Consider apart from a particular case or instance;

Give an abstract (of)

Existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment;

Not representing or imitating external reality or the objects of nature;

Based on specialized theory;

Dealing with a subject in the abstract without practical purpose or intention;

Not based on a specific instance; theoretical.

Removed or detached from particular instances.

Not in the traditional sense. Abstract art doesn't represent reality directly but uses forms and colors to create an effect.

No, while "Abstract" can mean a summary, "Extract" means a specific portion taken out.

"Abstract" relates more to condensation or summarization.

An extract is more specific, as it's a direct portion taken from a source, while an abstract is a general summary.

No, an extract is a specific portion taken out, not necessarily a summary.

Yes, one can extract information, ideas, or data, which aren't necessarily physical.

Yes, both can function as nouns and verbs, but with different meanings.

Yes, you can extract (take out) an abstract (summary) from a larger document.

Yes, the concentrated essence of a plant is often called an extract.

"Extract" is more related to the essence or primary component of something.

Typically, yes. An abstract is meant to summarize the main points of a larger work.

Yes, but it might be clearer to say you grasped the main ideas or themes of the book.

Yes, pulling a specific quote or passage from a book can be referred to as an extract.

An abstract provides a brief overview of the study's main points and findings.

Not exactly. Abstract thinking involves conceptual or theoretical ideas, not just summarization.