nonconcreteness

Nonconcreteness is the quality of being nonconcrete: lacking physical form or any directly perceptible embodiment. In scholarly usage, it describes referents, ideas, or content that cannot be directly sensed or touched.

In linguistics and cognitive science, nonconcreteness is contrasted with concreteness. Nonconcrete terms refer to abstract ideas, processes, or states such as justice, freedom, or intention, rather than tangible objects. Research on concreteness effects notes that concrete terms are often processed more quickly and remembered better, a pattern that can complicate communication involving abstract ideas.

In philosophy, nonconcreteness relates to the status of abstract objects, properties, or fictional entities, raising questions about their existence, dependence on language, and how they are represented in thought.

In art and design, nonconcreteness describes works that emphasize idea, emotion, or perception over physical substance, such as conceptual art and certain forms of abstraction.

Limitations and debates surround the term, since it is not always sharply defined across disciplines and can be used loosely. Boundaries between concrete and nonconcrete are fluid in language and representation, and some phenomena may be perceived as partly concrete and partly abstract.

Examples of nonconcrete concepts include justice, love, and democracy, which lack direct sensory referents, compared with concrete referents like water, rock, or a chair.

See also: concreteness (linguistics), abstract noun, concreteness effect, embodiment (cognitive science), metaphor.