All 17 Uses of

abstract

in

The Fountainhead

Architecture is primarily a utilitarian conception, and the problem is to elevate the principle of pragmatism into the realm of esthetic abstraction.†
Chpt 1.8

She knew it was the most beautiful face she would ever see, because it was the abstraction of strength made visible.†
Chpt 2.1

"Yes," said Keating, "that was my abstract theme, when I designed the building—the great masses and the flowers of culture.†
Chpt 2.3

And Keating knew that Toohey knew he had never thought of any abstract theme until he'd read that article, and more: that Toohey approved again.†
Chpt 2.3

Peter Keating had never felt the need to formulate abstract convictions.
Chpt 2.4 *

abstract = a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance

He felt uplifted by the knowledge of his own capacity to respond to the abstract, the profound, the ideal.†
Chpt 2.4

He looked abstracted for a moment, as if he were calculating a problem in arithmetic, not too difficult.†
Chpt 3.7

The city became a friendly sight, an abstraction with which no possible communication could be established, like the sky, a spectacle to be admired, but of no direct concern in their lives.†
Chpt 3.8

It was a contest without time, a struggle of two abstractions, the thing that had created the building against the things that made the play possible—two forces, suddenly naked to her in their simple statement—two forces that had fought since the world began—and every religion had known of them—and there had always been a God and a Devil—only men had been so mistaken about the shapes of their Devil—he was not single and big, he was many and smutty and small.†
Chpt 3.8

But there were men who were impressed by the simple fact that Roark had built a place which made money for owners who didn't want to make money; this was more convincing than abstract artistic discussions.†
Chpt 4.1

First, he felt that abstract theories were nonsense, and if the customers wanted this particular kind, it was perfectly safe to give it to them, and good business, besides.†
Chpt 4.6

The men who had gathered every word he cared to drop about the stock market, real estate, advertising, politics, had no interest in his opinion on art, greatness and abstract justice.†
Chpt 4.13

From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man—the function of his reasoning mind.†
Chpt 4.18

Definitions:

(abstract as in: abstract thought)
of a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance

(abstract as in: read the abstract)
a summary; or to summarize -- especially academic writing