From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishin the abstractin the abstractREAL/NOT IMAGINARYconsidered in a general way rather than being based on specific details and examples Talking about crime in the abstract just isn’t enough. → abstract
Examples from the Corpus
in the abstract• In the abstract, democracy is wonderful, but a true democracy may not be possible.• Ethics in the abstract judges action by its conformity with the moral law; political ethics judges action by its political consequences.• But the suicide letter also keeps a foot in the abstract world, the world of metaphysics in my extended sense.• But when Arrowsmith found other keywords in the abstracts of papers on both subjects, it soon made the connection.• I don't think if you just consider products or a market in the abstract that you can be ahead of your time.• Generally this is perceived, not in the abstract, but by listing the failings of Catholic countries.• Indeed, although regulatory offences in the abstract may be regarded as of minor consequence they may in certain cases have drastic results.• Designing elegant systems in the abstract is not much use.• You might have thought that, in the abstract, the immediate prospect was attractive. 