See Also: ABSOLUTE(law)
Absolute zero(medicine)
Absolute(medicine)
absolute zero(dictionary)
absolute(dictionary)
absolute value(encyclopedia)
absolute zero(encyclopedia)
Absolute Auction(money)
Absolute Advantage(money)
absolute viscosity(medicine)

absolute (iou)



absolute adjective & noun. LME.
[Latin absolutus freed, completed, pa. pple of absolvere ABSOLVE; partly infl. by Old French absolu.]
A. adjective.
I. Detached, disengaged.
Absolved from. LME-M17.
Disengaged from accidental or special circumstances. Only in LME.
Absorbed in (an occupation). Only in L15.
II. In quality or degree.
Finished; perfect. arch. LME.
G. Sandys Where mariners be English: who are the absolutest..in their profession.
Pure, mere; in the strictest sense. M16.
absolute alcohol ethanol containing less than one per cent of water by weight. absolute music self-dependent instrumental music without literary or other extraneous suggestions.
P. Hawker The gale increased to an absolute tornado.
Complete, entire. L16.
Arnold Bennett Performed with absolute assurance and perfection. N. Blake If he wasn't such an absolute ass. D. Lessing Your decree [of divorce] was absolute last week.
III. In position or relation.
Grammar. Not in the usual grammatical relation or construction; (of a form) uninflected. LME.
ablative absolute: see ABLATIVE noun 1. accusative absolute: see ACCUSATIVE noun. dative absolute: see DATIVE noun. genitive absolute: see GENITIVE noun. nominative absolute: see NOMINATIVE noun.
Of ownership or authority: unrestricted, independent. L15.
absolute majority a majority over all rivals combined, more than half.
Having absolute power; arbitrary, despotic. L16.
Viewed without relation to or comparison with other things of the same kind; real, actual. E17.
absolute HUMIDITY. absolute MAGNITUDE. absolute pitch a fixed standard of pitch defined by the rate of vibration; ability to recognize or reproduce the exact pitch of a note. absolute temperature temperature measured from absolute zero. absolute term: see TERM noun. absolute unit a unit which can be defined in terms of mass, length, and time. absolute value Math. of a real number: its value irrespective of sign; of a complex number a+ib: the positive square root of a2+b2. absolute viscosity: see VISCOSITY 2. absolute zero: see ZERO noun 2b.
IV. Without condition or mental limitation.
Of a person or prediction: free from doubt or uncertainty. arch. E17.
Shakespeare Cymbeline I am absolute 'Twas very Cloten.
Of a statement etc.: free from conditions or reservations. E17.
Philosophy. Existing or able to be thought of without relation to other things. L18.
b. noun.
the Absolute, that which is absolute, that which exists or is able to be thought of without relation to other things. M19.
An absolute thing; an absolute principle or truth. M19.
absolutely adverb in an absolute manner or degree; also (stressed on 3rd syll.) used as an emphatic affirmative: yes, quite so: LME.
absoluteness noun M16.