English▸ adjective
1 not qualified or diminished in any way; total:
absolute secrecy
absolute silence.
▪ used for emphasis when expressing an opinion:
the policy is absolute folly.
▪ (of powers or rights) not subject to any limitation; unconditional:
no one dare challenge her absolute authority
the right to life is absolute.
▪ (of a ruler) having unrestricted power:
Dom Miguel proclaimed himself absolute monarch.
2 viewed or existing independently and not in relation to other things; not relative or comparative:
absolute moral standards.
3 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).
▸ noun Philosophy a value or principle which is regarded as universally valid or which may be viewed without relation to other things:
good and evil are presented as absolutes.
▪ (the absolute) something that exists without being dependent on anything else.
▪ (the Absolute) ultimate reality; God.
– ORIGIN late Middle English: from Latin absolutus ‘freed, unrestricted’, past participle of absolvere (see absolve).