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absolute
absolute definition
ab·so·lute (ab′sə lo̵̅o̅t′, ab′sə lo̵̅o̅t′)
adjective
- perfect; complete; whole absolute silence
- not mixed; pure absolute alcohol
- not limited by a constitution, parliament, etc.; unrestricted an absolute ruler
- positive; definite an absolute certainty
- not doubted; actual; real an absolute truth
- not dependent on, or without reference to, anything else; not relative
- Gram.
- forming part of a sentence, but not in the usual relations of syntax: in the sentence “The weather being good, they went,” the weather being good is an absolute construction
- used without an explicit object: said of a verb usually transitive, such as steal in the sentence “Thieves steal.”
- used alone, with the noun understood: said of a pronoun or an adjective, such as ours and brave in the sentence “Ours are the brave.”
- Law without condition or encumbrance absolute ownership
- Physics of the absolute temperature scale
Etymology: ME absolut < L absolutus, pp. of absolvere, to loosen from: see absolve
noun
something that is absolute
Related Forms:
- absoluteness ab′·so·lute′·ness noun
absolute Idioms
the Absolute
Philos. ultimate reality regarded as uncaused, unmodified, unified and complete, timeless, etc.
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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