/
ˈabsəluːt/
adj.
- not qualified or diminished; total.
▸not subject to any limitation of power:
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an absolute ruler.
- not relative or comparative:
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absolute moral standards.
- Grammar (of a construction) syntactically independent of the rest of the sentence, as in dinner being over, we left the table.
▸(of a transitive verb) used without an expressed object (e.g. guns kill).
▸(of an adjective) used without an expressed noun (e.g. the brave).
- Law (of a decree) final. See also decree absolute.
n.
Philosophy a value or principle regarded as universally valid or able to be viewed without relation to other things.
Derivative
- absoluteness n.
- absolutization
or absolutisation n. - absolutize
or absolutise v.
Etymology
ME: from L. absolutus ‘freed, unrestricted’, from absolvere (see absolve).
