Abstraction
Abstractions may be formed by reducing the information content of a concept or a phenomenon as viewed, often to keep only the information which is needed for a particular purpose. For example, abstracting a leather soccer ball to the more general idea of a ball will keep only the information on general ball attributes and behavior, leaving out the traits of that particular ball. Compare with word: generalizing. The opposite of the adjective "abstract" is commonly the word "concrete".