absolute

absolute
    adj 1: perfect or complete or pure; "absolute loyalty";
           "absolute silence"; "absolute truth"; "absolute alcohol"
           [ant: {comparative}, {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: {absolute}, {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 guarantee to respect the nation's authority"
    5: not capable of being violated or infringed; "infrangible
       human rights" [syn: {absolute}, {infrangible}, {inviolable}]
    n 1: something that is conceived or that exists independently
         and not in relation to other things; something that does
         not depend on anything else and is beyond human control;
         something that is not relative; "no mortal being can
         influence the absolute"
    

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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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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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.
    

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.
    

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