absolute

absolute [ab′sə lo͞ot΄, ab΄sə lo͞ot′]

adj.

[ME absolut < L absolutus, pp. of absolvere, to loosen from: see ABSOLVE]

1. perfect; complete; whole [absolute silence]

2. not mixed; pure [absolute alcohol]

3. not limited by a constitution, parliament, etc.; unrestricted [an absolute ruler]

4. positive; definite [an absolute certainty]

5. not doubted; actual; real [an absolute truth]

6. not dependent on, or without reference to, anything else; not relative

7. Gram.

a) 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

b) used without an explicit object: said of a verb usually transitive, such as steal in the sentence “Thieves steal.”

c) 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.”

8. Law without condition or encumbrance [absolute ownership]

9. Physics of the absolute temperature scale

n.

something that is absolute

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the Absolute

Philos. ultimate reality regarded as uncaused, unmodified, unified and complete, timeless, etc.

absoluteness

n.