absolute

Alternative forms

• abs.

Etymology

First attested around 1380. From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absolūtus (“unconditional; unfettered; completed”), perfect passive participle of absolvō (“loosen, set free, complete”), from ab (“away”) + solvo (“to loose”).^[1] Influenced in part by Old French absolu.^[2] Compare absolve.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.səˌluːt/, (archaic) /ˈæb.səˌljut/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.səˌlut/ (noun or adjective); IPA^(key): /ˌæb.səˈlut/ (noun only)

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Adjective

absolute (comparative more absolute or absoluter, superlative most absolute or absolutest)

1. (obsolete) Absolved; free. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the mid 17^th century.]^[2]
2. (obsolete) Disengaged from accidental circumstances. [Attested from around 1350 until 1470.]
3. (archaic) Complete in itself; perfect. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton:

     So absolute she seems, And in herself complete.

4. (grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   1. (of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner; ablative absolute; nominative absolute; genitive absolute; accusative absolute. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   2. Standing by itself in a loose syntactical connection, and qualifying the sentence as a whole rather than any single word in it. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

      Anyhow in 'anyhow, I made it home' is an absolute.

   3. (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

      Hungry in 'Feed the hungry.'

   4. (comparative, superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison.'[First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

      Older in 'An older person should be treated with respect.

   5. (of a transitive sense of a verb) Having no direct object. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

      Kill in 'If looks could kill...'

   6. (Ireland, Wales) An inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of articles or compounded with a preverb. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
5. (obsolete) Absorbed in (e.g. an occupation). [Attested only in the late 15^th century.]
6. Pure; unmixed. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]

   absolute alcohol

7. (figuratively) Complete; utter; outright; unmitigated; entire; total; not qualified or diminished in any way; unrestricted; without limitation. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]

   When caught, he told an absolute lie.

8. Unconditional; free from any conditions, limitations, and relations; [First attested in the late 15^th century.]
   1. Having unlimited power, without limits set by a constitution, parliament, or other means; independent in ownership or authority. [First attested in the late 15^th century.]
   2. Absolutist; arbitrary; despotic. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   3. Proceeding from or characteristic of an absolute ruler. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • 1962, Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, (1990), page 155:

     […] the more absolute the ruler, the more absolute the revolution will be which replaces him.

9. Authoritative; peremptory.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

     The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed.

10. Positive; unquestionable; peremptory. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
11. Real; actual. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
12. (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person or prediction). [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2:

      I am absolute ’t was very Cloten.

13. Free from conditional limitations; operating or existing in full under all circumstances without variation. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]
14. (law) Complete; unconditional; final; without encumbrances; not liable to change or cancellation.
15. (philosophy) Existing, able to be thought of, or able to be viewed without relation to other things. [First attested in the late 18^th century.]

    absolute motion

    absolute time or space

    Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man in a state of nature as contradistinguished from relative rights and duties, or such as pertain to him in his social relations.

    • (Can we date this quote?) William Hamilton:

      To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute.

16. (philosophy) Fundamental; ultimate; intrinsic; free from the variability and error natural to the human way of thinking and perception. [First attested in the late 18^th century.]
17. (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement not comparative or relative.
    1. Having reference to or derived from the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
    2. Relating to the absolute temperature scale.
18. (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
19. (art) Concerned entirely with expressing beauty and feelings, lacking meaningful reference.
20. (dance) Utilizing the body to express ideas, independent of music and costumes.
21. (mathematics) As measured using an absolute value.

    absolute deviation

    absolute square

    mean absolute difference

22. (mathematics) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers; unconditional.

Noun

absolute (plural absolutes)

1. That which is independent of context-dependent interpretation, inviolate, fundamental. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]^[2]

   moral absolutes

2. Anything that is absolute. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]^[2]
3. (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
4. (philosophy, usually capitalized) A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego.
   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 1039:

     Withdrawn as a Buddha he sat, watching the alien world from his perch in the absolute.

5. (philosophy, usually capitalized) The unity of spirit and nature; God.
6. (philosophy, usually capitalized) The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced.
7. Concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes.

References

Further reading

• Absolute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Absolute in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.
• absolute in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• bales out

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

absolute

1. Inflected form of absoluut

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /absoˈlute/
• Hyphenation: ab‧so‧lu‧te
• Rhymes: -ute

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely

Adjective

absolute

1. inflected form of absolut

Etymology

From absoluta +‎ -e. Borrowed from Esperanto absolute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ab.soˈlu.te/

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely

Etymology

From absolūtus (“complete, finished”).

Adverb

absolūtē (comparative absolūtius, superlative absolūtissimē)

1. absolutely, completely, fully

References

• absolute in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• absolute in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• absolute in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• absolute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to go a long way back (in narrative): longe, alte (longius, altius) repetere (either absolute or ab aliqua re)
    

Adjective

absolute

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of absolut.