absolute

English Online Dictionary. What means absolute‎? What does absolute mean?

English

Alternative forms

• abs.
• absolut (obsolete)

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”). Influenced in part by Old French absolu. Compare absolve.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.sə.luːt/, /æb.səˈluːt/, /ˈæp-/, (archaic) /ˈæb.sə.ljuːt/
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈap.sə.lʉʊt/, /ˈab-/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.səˌlut/, /ˌæb.səˈlut/
• Hyphenation: ab‧so‧lute

Adjective

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

1. Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional. [first attested in the late 1400s]
   1. Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic. [first attested in the late 1400s]
      1. Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory. [first attested in the mid 1500s]
2. Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree. [first attested around 1400]
3. Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed. [first attested in the mid 1500s]

4. Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way. [first attested in the late 1500s]
5. (very occasionally postpositive) Positive, certain; unquestionable; not in doubt. [first attested in the early 1600s]
6. (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person, opinion or prediction). [first attested in the early 1600s]
7. (especially philosophy) Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards. [first attested in the late 1700s]

8. (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative.
   1. Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
   2. Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin.
9. (grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; not in a syntactical relation with other parts of a text, or qualifying the text as a whole rather than any single word in it, like "it being over" in "it being over, she left". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   1. (of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominative absolute or genitive absolute, accusative absolute or ablative absolute. [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   2. (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   3. (of a comparative or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   4. (of an adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative).
   5. (of a usually transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   6. (of Celtic languages) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of particles or compounded with a preverb.

      Antonym: conjunct

10. (mathematics) As measured using an absolute value.

11. (mathematics) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional.
12. (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
13. (art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art.

14. (law, postpositive, formal) Indicating that a tenure or estate in land is not conditional or liable to terminate on (strictly) any occurrence or (sometimes contextually) certain kinds of occurrence.

15. (obsolete) Absolved; free. [attested from the mid 1300s until the mid 1600s]

Synonyms

• (free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions): categorical, unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted
• (unlimited in power): autocratic, despotic
• (independent of references or relations to other things or standards): independent
• (emphasizer): living,

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions”): conditional, limited
• (antonym(s) of “independent of references or relations to other things or standards”): relative, dependent

Derived terms

Related terms

• absolution
• absoluteness
• absolutize
• absolutization

Translations

Noun

absolute (plural absolutes)

1. That which exists (or has a certain property, nature, size, etc) independent of references to other standards or external conditions; that which is universally valid; that which is not relative, conditional, qualified or mitigated. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]
2. (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
3. (philosophy, usually capitalized, usually preceded by "the") A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego.
4. (philosophy, usually capitalized, usually preceded by "the") The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced; the unity of spirit and nature; God.
5. (chemistry) A concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes; an alcoholic extract of a concrete.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• Absolute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Absolute in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.
• “absolute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• bales out

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

absolute

1. inflection of absoluut:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

Esperanto

Etymology

From absoluta +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [apsoˈlute]
• Rhymes: -ute
• Hyphenation: ap‧so‧lu‧te

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely (in an absolute manner; utterly, positively, wholly)
2. (with negation) absolutely (in a complete manner; fully, totally, completely)

   Synonyms: tute, nepre

3. (grammar) absolutely (in a manner that does not take an object)

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

absolute

1. inflection of absolut:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Ido

Etymology

From absoluta +‎ -e. Borrowed from Esperanto absolute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ab.soˈlu.te/

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely

Latin

Etymology

From absolūtus (“complete, finished”).

Adverb

absolūtē (comparative absolūtius, superlative absolūtissimē)

1. absolutely, completely, fully

Related terms

• absolūtus

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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• absolute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Swedish

Adjective

absolute

1. definite natural masculine singular of absolut