Abstracted, a.
1. Separated or disconnected; withdrawn; removed; apart. The evil abstracted stood from his own evil. Milton.
2. Separated from matter; abstract; ideal. [Obs.]
3. Abstract; abstruse; difficult. [Obs.] Johnson.
4. Inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind. "An abstracted scholar." Johnson.
Shades of meaning
As regards mental action, absorbed, abstracted, and preoccupied refer to the cause, absent or absent-minded to the effect. The man absorbed in one thing will appear absent in others. A preoccupied person may seem listless and thoughtless, but the really listless and thoughtless have not mental energy to be preoccupied. The absent-minded man is oblivious of ordinary matters, because his thoughts are elsewhere. One who is preoccupied is intensely busy in thought; one may be absent-minded either through intense concentration or simply through inattention, with fitful and aimless wandering of thought. Compare abstract.