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absolute

UK/ˈæb.sə.luːt/US/ˈæb.səˌlut/
adjectiveB1Very common — you will meet it every day · #2,275 of 15,258neutral

Absolute means complete, with nothing held back or limiting it. Absolute power, absolute nonsense, an absolute majority.

The exact uses matter: an absolute majority is more than half of everybody, not just more than anyone else, and absolute zero is the temperature below which nothing can go. As an intensifier it has worn thin — absolute rubbish means very. Note the Latin, meaning loosed from.

Definitions of absolute

  1. 1adjectiveabsoluteComplete, with nothing limiting it.B1

    “I have absolute trust in my doctor.”

absolute is a quality of completeness.

Where it comes from

Latin absolutus means loosed from or unconditional, from ab-, away, plus solvere, to loosen. Absolve is the same verb.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *lewh₃-

  2. Latin

    absolūtus

  3. Middle French

    absolut

  4. Middle English

    absolut

  5. English, today

    absolute

Built from

  • absolvō · Latin — loosen, set free, complete
  • ab · Latin — away
  • solvo · Latin — to loose

From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absolūtus. First attested around 1380. From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absolūtus (“unconditional; unfettered; completed”), perfect passive participle of absolvō (“loosen, set free, complete”), from ab (“away”) + solvo (“to loose”). Influenced in part by Old French absolu. Compare absolve.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

absolute in the wild

  • The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from zero.

    Absolute value

  • The Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales set their zero points at absolute zero by definition.

    Absolute zero

  • Although absolute zero can be approached, it cannot be reached.

    Absolute zero

  • In physics, absolute space and time may be a preferred frame.

    Absolute space and time

  • In statistics, mean absolute error (MAE) is a measure of errors between paired observations expressing the same phenomenon.

    Mean absolute error

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the solvo family

absolutedissolve

absolute — used about once every 297 pages · #2,275 · point at the bar for the others

  • absolutely
  • absolutism