[f. ABSTRACTION + -IST.] One who occupies himself with abstractions; an idealist.
1853. Harper’s Mag., VI. May, 845/2. They [those seeking to escape expediency] are the fanatical abstractionist, the generalizing radical, on the one hand, and the unreasoning advocate of a blind authority, on the other.
1863. B. Taylor, H. Thurston, I. 37. ‘And your fanatical abstractionists never look at anything in a practical way!’ rejoined the Hon. Zeno.
1876. Emerson, Ess., Ser. II. viii. 192. She [Society] punishes abstractionists.
