All 3 Uses of
abstract
in
The Great Gatsby
- "It was — simply amazing," she repeated abstractedly.†
p. 52..6 *
- Gatsby took an arm of each of us and moved forward into the restaurant, whereupon Mr. Wolfshiem swallowed a new sentence he was starting and lapsed into a somnambulatory abstraction.
p. 69..9abstraction = an instance of being lost in thoughteditor's notes: Somnambulatory refers to sleepwalking, so Wolfsheim is described as being lost in thought while moving along in a very sleepy state.
- If he left the room for a minute she'd look around uneasily, and say: "Where's Tom gone?" and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door.
p. 77..1 *abstracted = distracted (thinking about something outside of the immediate conversation or circumstances)
Definitions:
-
(abstracted as in: abstracted, so didn't notice) lost in thought; or distracted by thoughts
-
(abstract as in: abstract thought) of a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance