diff --git a/README b/README
index edb490a57848..40d638f92900 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -541,8 +541,8 @@ Options affecting specific writers
     for a file `reference.docx` in the user data directory (see
     `--data-dir`). If this is not found either, sensible defaults will be
     used. The following styles are used by pandoc: [paragraph]
-    Normal, Compact, Title, Authors, Date, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3,
-    Heading 4, Heading 5, Block Quote, Definition Term, Definition,
+    Normal, Compact, Title, Authors, Date, Abstract, Heading 1, Heading 2,
+    Heading 3, Heading 4, Heading 5, Block Quote, Definition Term, Definition,
     Body Text, Table Caption, Image Caption; [character] Default
     Paragraph Font, Body Text Char, Verbatim Char, Footnote Ref,
     Link.
diff --git a/data/reference.docx b/data/reference.docx
index 7efc62458ea9..d61eadf99045 100644
Binary files a/data/reference.docx and b/data/reference.docx differ
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docx.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docx.hs
index de31e462ec8c..3d9586348166 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docx.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docx.hs
@@ -481,17 +481,24 @@ writeOpenXML opts (Pandoc meta blocks) = do
                                   _ -> []
   let auths = docAuthors meta
   let dat = docDate meta
+  let abstract' = case lookupMeta "abstract" meta of
+                       Just (MetaBlocks bs) -> bs
+                       Just (MetaInlines ils) -> [Plain ils]
+                       Nothing -> []
   title <- withParaProp (pStyle "Title") $ blocksToOpenXML opts [Para tit | not (null tit)]
   authors <- withParaProp (pStyle "Authors") $ blocksToOpenXML opts
                  [Para (intercalate [LineBreak] auths) | not (null auths)]
   date <- withParaProp (pStyle "Date") $ blocksToOpenXML opts [Para dat | not (null dat)]
+  abstract <- if null abstract'
+                 then return []
+                 else withParaProp (pStyle "Abstract") $ blocksToOpenXML opts abstract'
   let convertSpace (Str x : Space : Str y : xs) = Str (x ++ " " ++ y) : xs
       convertSpace (Str x : Str y : xs) = Str (x ++ y) : xs
       convertSpace xs = xs
   let blocks' = bottomUp convertSpace $ blocks
   doc' <- blocksToOpenXML opts blocks'
   notes' <- reverse `fmap` gets stFootnotes
-  let meta' = title ++ authors ++ date
+  let meta' = title ++ authors ++ date ++ abstract
   return (meta' ++ doc', notes')
 
 -- | Convert a list of Pandoc blocks to OpenXML.