I'm currently working on an essay and in it I talk about how there's a computer program that allows me to do something and there was a time in my life where I worked very extensively with this program and so what I was doing every day started to feel more and more abstract, because working with a Graphical User Interface on a Computer is so far removed from concrete things that I can touch and feel and so I wanted to do something to deabstractify my life.
My solution was to learn the basics of a programming language that the program, that I was working with, was writing in the background and that way I was able to do some work without the program and see what my computer was actually doing, thus making this process a bit less abstract.
This is how I use it in my text:
I felt this way, on that particular day, and so I decided to try to
deabstractify my experience a little bit, by learning…
This seems logical to me, because I'm pretty sure that "abstractify" is a word and I know that I can just add a "de" to the beginning of verb to change its meaning to the opposite.
But Grammarly is telling me that "deabstractify" is not a word but Grammarly has no problem with: "abstractify" – Also English is not my native langue.
I though maybe I should use: "deabstract", but according to Grammarly that's another unknown word.
Thank You!
Best Answer
The prefix "de-" and the suffix "-ify" are both productive in English.
de- (usually added to a verb) gives the idea of removing something: deintensify; delouse, deforest, degrease, etc.
-ify (also (-fy) is from the Latin ficāre - to make, and can be added to words in the sense of "to make something [word]" and thus produce verbs: false - falsify; person - personify.
The test is usually "Given context, will it be generally understood?" I think that "deabstractify" in the context given would be understood as "remove the abstract nature of".
You will note that the order of the affixes indicates removal followed by creation in that new state.
The use of two affixes usually has a feeling of informality about it, akin to litotes, and new coinages should not be used in a formal context as there seems to be a little lightheartedness in coining words.
You might wish to consider losing the litotes and go for a positive statement: "I wanted to do something to make my life more real/concrete."