absolute

Less common meanings

9. 9
   a fixed principlenouncountable

   Something that exists or holds independent of other standards or conditions; that which is universally valid and not relative or qualified.

   She argued that justice is an absolute, valid everywhere and for everyone.

   Moral absolutes leave no room for exceptions.

   UsageOften plural: moral absolutes, or think in absolutes.

   Note

   It often describes rigid thinking. Harold Bloom's Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (1987) lists Anna's "unconditional demands, total fears." Brief Cognitive Hypnosis (2001) calls always, never and forever absolutes, and offers the paradox "the only absolute is that there are no absolutes."

10. 10
    pureadjective

    Undiluted and wholly pure, with no other substance mixed in.

    The lab uses absolute alcohol because it contains no water at all.

    Only absolute ethanol, free of water, would dissolve the powder.

    UsageMostly in absolute alcohol and absolute ethanol.

    Similarpure, unmixed, undiluted, unadulterated

    Oppositeimpure, diluted, adulterated

11. 11
    ultimate realitynoununcountable

    In philosophy, the Absolute: ultimate reality that exists and can be conceived purely by itself, the whole to which everything is reduced, often identified with God.

    Hegel understood history as the gradual unfolding of the Absolute.

    In Hegel's system the Absolute embraces all of reality, reconciling spirit and nature.

    Note

    Hegel's system made this the summit of reality: everything is finally reduced to one whole that unites spirit and nature, and that whole is identified with God. The same capitalized term can also mean whatever exists purely by itself, without reference to anything else, and writers often let the two ideas run together. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Hegel treats the Absolute as ultimate reality encompassing everything. en.wikipedia.org
    • Hegel's Absolute encompasses spirit and nature. marxists.org
    • Hegel identifies the Absolute with God. marxists.org
    • The philosophical Absolute can signify something self-contained and independent of anything else. en.wikipedia.org
12. 12
    flower oilnouncountable or uncountable

    A concentrated, highly aromatic oil extracted from flowers and used in perfumery; an alcohol extract of a concrete.

    The perfumer blended a little jasmine absolute into the heart of the fragrance.

    A few drops of rose absolute scented the whole workroom.

    UsageAfter a flower name: jasmine absolute, rose absolute.

    Note

    Perfumers make an absolute in two steps: plant material first yields a concrete, and alcohol then draws the absolute out of the concrete. Ernest Guenther's The Essential Oils (1948) notes that crude absolutes of enfleurage are dark in color. Unlike absolute alcohol, the word here names the extract, not the solvent. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • An absolute can be produced by extracting plant material to obtain a concrete, then extracting the concrete with alcohol. landau.faculty.unlv.edu
    • Ernest Guenther's The Essential Oils, volume one, was first published in 1948, as shown on its original title page. archive.org
    • Guenther states that crude absolutes of enfleurage are usually dark. archive.org
    • The perfumery absolute is the extract produced using alcohol. chem.uwec.edu
13. 13
    basic unitsadjective

    Derived in the simplest way from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.

    The dyne is a unit of force in the absolute CGS system.

    Older textbooks express measurements in absolute units derived from mass, length, and time.

    Note

    Older physics distinguished absolute units from units that depend on gravitational or other arbitrary standards. Absolute units are built straight from mass, length and time. The dyne, the CGS unit of force, is the standard case: it is defined from the gram, the centimeter and the second, and from nothing else. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Historical accounts distinguish absolute units from gravitational units and separately chosen conventional units. nvlpubs.nist.gov
    • Absolute mechanical units derive from units of mass, length and time. kparker.bg-research.cc.ic.ac.uk
    • The dyne is the CGS force unit and equals one gram centimetre per second squared. en.wikipedia.org
14. 14
    school marksadjective

    Of a grading system: based on each student's own knowledge rather than on how they compare with the rest of the group.

    The school switched to absolute grading, so a mark reflects only what each student has mastered.

    Under an absolute system, every student who meets the standard can earn top marks.

    Oppositerelative

15. 15
    all valuesadjective

    In mathematics, describing an expression that is true for all values of the variable; unconditional.

    Similarunconditional

    Oppositeconditional

16. 16
    standalone artadjective

    Of an art form: independent of other arts, expressing beauty or ideas through a single medium alone.

    Critics praised the symphony as absolute, owing nothing to text or staging.

    The composer wrote absolute music, with no story or poem behind it.

    Note

    Music gave this sense its best-known phrase: absolute music, which means nothing beyond its own sounds. It is set against program music, which is written to depict an external subject. Calling dance or painting absolute makes the same claim: the work speaks only through its own medium and borrows no story or text from another art.

17. 17
    separate phraseadjective

    Of a word or phrase: connected to the rest of the sentence in an unusual way, or standing apart from it, as in a nominative or ablative absolute.

    In "the votes counted, the chair announced the result," the opening phrase is absolute.

    An absolute construction modifies the whole clause rather than a single word.

    Note

    Grammar keeps the Latin idea of "loosened": an absolute phrase is cut loose from the clause around it. English has the nominative absolute (it being over, she left), with its own subject and participle. Latin and Greek have ablative, genitive and accusative versions. Because the phrase carries its own subject, it is not a dangling modifier, and a comma sets it off. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The grammatical term absolute derives from Latin meaning ‘loosened from’ or ‘separated’. en.wikipedia.org
    • Latin has an ablative absolute and Greek a genitive absolute. en.wikipedia.org
    • Greek also has an accusative absolute. en.wikipedia.org
18. 18
    adjectiveobsolete

    Absolved; freed from blame, guilt, or obligation.

    Note

    An obsolete sense that keeps the word next to its cousin absolve, since both come from Latin absolvō, "set free." Someone absolute was released from guilt, blame or debt. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Absolute has an obsolete sense meaning absolved or freed, supporting release from guilt, blame or debt. en.wiktionary.org
    • Absolute and absolve share the Latin verb absolvō, meaning set free. en.wiktionary.org
    • Absolved includes discharge from debts and freedom from blame or guilt. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    adjectiverare

    Domineering and commanding, in the manner of a ruler who recognizes no limits on their own power.

    The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, / With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed.

    1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
20. 20
    adjective

    Of an adjective, used without the noun it would normally modify.
21. 21
    adjective

    Of a verb, used without a direct object.
22. 22
    adjective

    Of a comparative term: used without a definite point of comparison, as "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect."
23. 23
    adjective

    Of an adjective or adverb, in its basic positive form, neither comparative nor superlative.
24. 24
    adjective

    Of an inflected verb: not preceded by particles or joined to a preverb, standing in its bare form.
25. 25
    noun

    In geometry, the imaginary pair of circular points at infinity in a plane, or the imaginary circle at infinity in three-dimensional space.