Abstract and concrete

Abstract and concrete are classifications that denote whether a term describes an object with a physical referent or one with no physical referents. They are most commonly used in philosophy and semantics. Abstract objects are sometimes called abstracta (sing. abstractum) and concrete objects are sometimes called concreta (sing. concretum). An abstract object is an object which does not exist at any particular time or place, but rather exists as a type of thing, i.e., an idea, or abstraction. The term 'abstract object' is said to have been coined by Willard Van Orman Quine. The study of abstract objects is called abstract object theory.

In philosophy

The type-token distinction identifies physical objects that are tokens of a particular type of thing. The "type" that it is a part of, is in itself an abstract object. The abstract-concrete distinction is often introduced and initially understood in terms of paradigmatic examples of objects of each kind: