absolute
IPA: ˈæbsʌɫut
noun
- 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.
- (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
- (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.
- (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.
- (chemistry) A concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes; an alcoholic extract of a concrete.
- (philosophy) That which is totally unconditioned, unrestricted, pure, perfect, or complete; that which can be thought of without relation to others.
adjective
- Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional.
- Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic.
- Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory.
- Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree.
- Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed.
- Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way.
- (very occasionally postpositive) Positive, certain; unquestionable; not in doubt.
- (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person, opinion or prediction).
- (especially philosophy) Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards.
- (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative.
- Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
- Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin.
- (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".
- (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.
- (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry".
- (of a comparative or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect".
- (of an adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative).
- (of a usually transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill".
- (of Celtic languages) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of particles or compounded with a preverb.
- (mathematics) As measured using an absolute value.
- (mathematics) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional.
- (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
- (art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art.
- (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.
- (obsolete) Absolved; free.
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Examples of "absolute" in Sentences
- From absolute truths to an _absolute Reason_, the foundation and essence of all truth.
- From absolute ideas Plato ascends to an _absolute Being_, the author of all finite existence.
- Its divisions are two, one of which we call the absolute inquiry, and the other the one which is accessory.
- Mr Morgan, 46, repeatedly demanded on Tuesday night that the 40-year-old Tory backbencher withdraw her allegation, which he described as an "absolute, blatant lie".
- In a nutshell, his argument is that the Israeli state should differentiate between those Arabs that can show what he calls absolute loyalty to the state, and those who cannot.
- V. i.54 (121,7) [as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute] _As shy_; as reserved, as abstracted: _as just_; as nice, as exact: _as absolute_; as complete in all the round of duty.
- Although the term "absolute return" has been applied to so many different style funds that it has lost a lot of its meaning, Putnam's funds, which carry no guarantees, have all met their benchmarks so far.
- Philosophy cannot positively represent the absolute because ˜conscious™ thinking operates from the position where the ˜absolute identity™ of the subjective and the objective has always already been lost in the emergence of consciousness.
- The Chinese theories, on the other hand, are based upon profound philosophical speculations and sound extremely plausible, but what they call the absolute and the finite, the positive and negative essences, the eight diagrams, and the five elements, are not real existences, but are fictitious names invented by the philosophers and freely applied in every direction.
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