Absolute

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Absolute \Ab"so*lute\, a. [L. absolutus, p. p. of absolvere: cf.
     F. absolu. See {Absolve}.]
     1. Loosed from any limitation or condition; uncontrolled;
        unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority,
        monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command;
        absolute power; an absolute monarch.


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     2. Complete in itself; perfect; consummate; faultless; as,
        absolute perfection; absolute beauty.
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              So absolute she seems,
              And in herself complete.              --Milton.
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     3. Viewed apart from modifying influences or without
        comparison with other objects; actual; real; -- opposed to
        {relative} and {comparative}; as, absolute motion;
        absolute time or space.
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     Note: Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man
           in a state of nature as contradistinguished from
           relative rights and duties, or such as pertain to him
           in his social relations.
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     4. Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other
        being; self-existent; self-sufficing.
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     Note: In this sense God is called the Absolute by the Theist.
           The term is also applied by the Pantheist to the
           universe, or the total of all existence, as only
           capable of relations in its parts to each other and to
           the whole, and as dependent for its existence and its
           phenomena on its mutually depending forces and their
           laws.
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     5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone;
        unconditioned; non-relative.
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     Note: It is in dispute among philosopher whether the term, in
           this sense, is not applied to a mere logical fiction or
           abstraction, or whether the absolute, as thus defined,
           can be known, as a reality, by the human intellect.
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                 To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word
                 and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute.
                                                    --Sir W.
                                                    Hamilton.
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     6. Positive; clear; certain; not doubtful. [R.]
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              I am absolute 't was very Cloten.     --Shak.
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     7. Authoritative; peremptory. [R.]
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              The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head,
              With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed. --Mrs.
                                                    Browning.
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     8. (Chem.) Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
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     9. (Gram.) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of
        the sentence in government; as, the case absolute. See
        {Ablative absolute}, under {Ablative}.
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     {Absolute curvature} (Geom.), that curvature of a curve of
        double curvature, which is measured in the osculating
        plane of the curve.
  
     {Absolute equation} (Astron.), the sum of the optic and
        eccentric equations.
  
     {Absolute space} (Physics), space considered without relation
        to material limits or objects.
  
     {Absolute terms}. (Alg.), such as are known, or which do not
        contain the unknown quantity. --Davies & Peck.
  
     {Absolute temperature} (Physics), the temperature as measured
        on a scale determined by certain general thermo-dynamic
        principles, and reckoned from the absolute zero.
  
     {Absolute zero} (Physics), the be ginning, or zero point, in
        the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to
        -273[deg] centigrade or -459.4[deg] Fahrenheit.
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     Syn: Positive; peremptory; certain; unconditional; unlimited;
          unrestricted; unqualified; arbitrary; despotic;
          autocratic.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Absolute \Ab"so*lute\, n. (Geom.)
     In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in
     space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  absolute
       adj 1: perfect or complete or pure; "absolute loyalty"; "absolute
              silence"; "absolute truth"; "absolute alcohol" [ant: {relative}]
       2: complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes
          used informally as intensifiers; "absolute freedom"; "an
          absolute dimwit"; "a downright lie"; "out-and-out mayhem";
          "an out-and-out lie"; "a rank outsider"; "many right-down
          vices"; "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer
          stupidity" [syn: {downright}, {out-and-out(a)}, {rank(a)},
           {right-down}, {sheer(a)}]
       3: not limited by law; "an absolute monarch"
       4: expressing finality with no implication of possible change;
          "an absolute (or unequivocal) quarantee to respect the
          nation's authority"; "inability to make a conclusive (or
          unequivocal) refusal" [syn: {conclusive}]
       5: without conditions or limitations; "a total ban" [syn: {total},
           {unconditioned}]
       6: not capable of being violated or infringed; "infrangible
          human rights" [syn: {infrangible}, {inviolable}]
       n : something that is conceived to be absolute; something that
           does not depends on anything else and is beyond human
           control; "no mortal being can influence the absolute"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  439 Moby Thesaurus words for "absolute":
     OK, absolutist, absolutistic, abstract, accurate, actual,
     adducible, admissible, admitting no exception,
     admitting no question, affirmative, affirmatory, all right,
     all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-out, all-pervading,
     all-powerful, almighty, alone, apodictic, arbitrary, aristocratic,
     arrant, arrogant, ascendant, assertative, assertional, assertive,
     assuring, attestative, attestive, autarchic, authentic,
     authoritarian, authoritative, authorized, autocratic, autonomous,
     azygous, bare, based on, beyond all praise, binding, born, bossy,
     bound, boundless, broad-based, bureaucratic, categorical, celibate,
     certain, circumstantial, civic, civil, clarified, classical, clean,
     clear, clear and distinct, clear as day, clothed with authority,
     commanding, competent, complete, comprehensive, compulsory,
     conclusive, concrete, confirmable, congenital, consequential,
     considerable, constitutional, consummate, controlling,
     convictional, convincing, correct, crass, cumulative, damning,
     de facto, dead right, decided, decisive, declarative, declaratory,
     decretory, deep-dyed, defectless, defined, definite, definitive,
     democratic, demonstrable, demonstratable, despotic, detailed,
     determinate, determinative, dictated, dictatorial, different,
     distilled, distinct, distinguished, documentary, documented,
     dominant, domineering, downright, duly constituted,
     dyed-in-the-wool, egregious, eminent, emphatic, empowered,
     entailed, entire, esoteric, especial, eternal, evidential,
     evidentiary, ex officio, ex parte, exceptional, exhaustive,
     explicit, express, extraordinary, eye-witness, factual, fascist,
     faultless, federal, federalist, federalistic, feudal, final,
     finished, first and last, firsthand, fixed, flagrant, flat,
     flat-out, flawless, for real, founded on, free, full, genuine,
     glaring, global, governing, governmental, great, grinding, gross,
     grounded on, gubernatorial, hard, hard-and-fast, haste, hearsay,
     hegemonic, hegemonistic, heteronomous, high-handed, historical,
     honest-to-God, ideal, illimitable, immaculate, impair, impeccable,
     imperative, imperial, imperious, implicit, important, imposed,
     impressive, inappealable, incontestable, incontrovertible,
     indefectible, indefective, independent, indicative, indisputable,
     individual, indubitable, ineluctable, inevitable, infallible,
     infinite, influential, inner, intensive, intimate, intolerable,
     irrefragable, irrefutable, irreproachable, irresistible,
     irrevocable, just, just right, leading, letter-perfect, limitless,
     lone, lordly, magisterial, magistral, mandated, mandatory,
     masterful, material, matriarchal, matriarchic, meticulous, mighty,
     minute, momentous, monarchal, monarchial, monarchic, monocratic,
     must, naked, neat, necessary, no strings, noteworthy, nuncupative,
     obligatory, odd, official, okay, oligarchal, oligarchic, omnibus,
     omnipotent, omnipresent, one and only, only, only-begotten, open,
     oppressive, out-and-out, outright, overbearing, overruling,
     overwhelming, parliamentarian, parliamentary, particular,
     patriarchal, patriarchic, peerless, peremptory, perfect,
     perfectly sure, personal, persuasive, pervasive, plain, plenary,
     plenipotentiary, plumb, pluralistic, political, positive, potent,
     powerful, precious, precise, predestined, predetermined,
     predicational, predicative, preeminent, prescript, prescriptive,
     prestigious, presumptive, private, probative, profound, prominent,
     pronounced, proper, provable, puissant, pure, purified, radical,
     rank, ranking, real, rectified, regular, reliable, repressive,
     republican, required, respective, right, round, ruling,
     satisfactory, satisfying, self-evident, self-governing, senior,
     several, severe, shattering, sheer, shocking, significant, simple,
     singular, sinless, sole, solipsistic, sovereign, special, specific,
     spotless, stainless, stark, stark-staring, straight, straight-out,
     straight-up-and-down, strict, substantial, suggestive, superior,
     superlative, suppressive, supreme, sure, sure-enough, surpassing,
     sweeping, symptomatic, taintless, telling, testable, the veriest,
     theocratic, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, total,
     totalitarian, transcendent, transcendental, transparent, true,
     tyrannical, tyrannous, ubiquitous, ultimate, unadulterated,
     unalloyed, unambiguous, unanswerable, unbearable, unblemished,
     unblended, unbound, unbounded, uncircumscribed, uncombined,
     uncompounded, unconditional, unconditioned, unconfined,
     unconfutable, unconscionable, unconstrained, uncontaminated,
     uncorrupted, undeniable, undiluted, undoubting, unequivocal,
     unfaultable, unflawed, unfortified, unhampered, unhesitating,
     unimpeachable, unique, universal, univocal, unleavened, unlimited,
     unmeasured, unmingled, unmistakable, unmitigated, unmixed,
     unpaired, unqualified, unquestionable, unquestioning, unrefutable,
     unrelieved, unrepeated, unreserved, unrestrained, unrestricted,
     unsophisticated, unspoiled, unspotted, untainted, untinged,
     unwaivable, utter, valid, verifiable, veritable, weighty, whole,
     wholesale, wide-open, without appeal, without exception,
     without reserve, without strings
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ABSOLUTE. Without any condition or encumbrance, as an "absolute bond,"
  simplex obligatio, in distinction from a conditional bond; an absolute
  estate, one that is free from all manner of condition or incumbrance.  A
  rule is said to be absolute, when, on the hearing, it is confirmed.  As to
  the effect of an absolute conveyance, see 1 Pow. Mortg. 125; in relation to
  absolute rights, 1 Chitty, Pl. 364; 1 Chitty, Pr. 32.
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  ABSOLUTE, adj.  Independent, irresponsible.  An absolute monarchy is
  one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases
  the assassins.  Not many absolute monarchies are left, most of them
  having been replaced by limited monarchies, where the sovereign's
  power for evil (and for good) is greatly curtailed, and by republics,
  which are governed by chance.