abstract nonsense

noun

Details which are straightforward but so tedious that an author or lecturer would rather skip them (especially those of a category theoretical nature).

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Meanings

nounabstract nonsense (uncountable)
  1. humorousuncountablemathematicsDetails which are straightforward but so tedious that an author or lecturer would rather skip them (especially those of a category theoretical nature).
  2. humorousuncountablemathematicsDetails which involve diagram chasing.
    1 more example

    ³Lang’s Algebra [Lan02, p. 759] supports the general consensus that this was not intended as an epithet: In the forties and fifties (mostly in the works of Cartan, Eilenberg, MacLane, and Steenrod, see [CE56]), it was realized that there was a systematic way of developing certain relations of linear algebra, depending only on fairly general constructions which were mostly arrow-theoretic, and were affectionately called abstract nonsense by Steenrod.

    2016, Emily Riehl, Category Theory in Context (Aurora: Dover modern math originals), New York: Dover, →ISBN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2019, page x
  3. humorousuncountablemathematicsCategory theory in general.
  4. uncountableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see abstract, nonsense.

Origin

Coined by Norman Steenrod, popularized by Serge Lang.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

abstract nonsense. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abstract%20nonsense

MLA

“abstract nonsense.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abstract%20nonsense. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abstract nonsense,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abstract%20nonsense.

Source: abstract nonsense on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.