abstractivenessn.
/əbˈstraktɪvnᵻs/, U.S. /əbˈstræktɪvnᵻs/, /æbˈstræktɪvnᵻs/ The property of abstracting something or quality of being abstracted; (in later use only) the quality of being abstract; abstractness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > [noun] > removal or taking away > ability to be
abstractiveness1686
removability1789
removableness1844
1686 H. More Let. 16 Jan. in J. Norris Theory & Regulation Love (1688) 194 For the very Abstractiveness of this pleasure from the natural end and use of it, is its Essential Filth or Moral Turpitude.
1818 J. Bentham Church-of-Englandism 274 Abstractiveness, the property of drawing a man out of the meritorious course to which he should be attached.
1840 T. C. Upham Outl. Imperfect & Disordered Mental Action 149 They are men of good common sense... Their abstractiveness (a convenient single term to express the faculty in question) is out of proportion to the other powers of the mind.
1881 W. S. Clarke Suburban Homes London 218 John Keats..inhaled from Hampstead Heath that marvellous classic poetic abstractiveness which is his essential peculiarity.
1917 F. Henkel Creative Psychics vi. 58 All mystics..are revolutionists necessarily, being in a constant state of reaction against dogmatism, formalism and arbitrary abstractiveness.
a1993 E. Morot-Sir Imagination of Ref. (1995) II. v. 149 The distinction between concreteness and abstractiveness does apply more appropriately to the qualification of..the experience of naming, than to its products as names.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1686