Pupils soon discovered that these were more than mere abstractions.

These motifs and colors have a resonance that goes far beyond mere geometric abstraction.

But in isolation, they are mere abstractions, because neither can exist without the connection between the two.

For Firefighter Butler, those numbers are more than a mere abstraction.

Numerical concepts start to become mere abstractions ungrounded by manipulation of the things themselves.

Questions of strategy debated on both sides of this country's war are mere abstractions for the refugees gathered in the open fields here.

Many of the rights included in it were written into Russia's new Constitution in 1993 but remain mere abstractions nearly a decade later.

I find this form (the actual, physical, material object) preferable to a mere abstraction.

"In judging of nations, it will not do to deal in mere abstractions", he concluded.

Lots of things are real in Discworld while being mere abstractions in ours.