Ăb'so-lūte, a.
(30), a. [Lat. absolutus, p. p. of absolvere; Fr. absolu, Pr. absolut. See ABSOLVE.]
Sense 1. Completed, or regarded as complete; finished; perfect; total; as, absolute perfection, absolute beauty.
So absolute she seems, And in herself complete. Milton.
Sense 2. Freed or loosed from any limitation or condition; uncontrolled; unconditional; as, absolute authority, and absolute monarchy, an absolute promise or command.
Sense 3. Positive; clear; certain. [Rare.]
The color of my hair he can not tell, Or answers, dark, at random; while, be sure, He's absolute on the figure, five or ten, Of my last subscription. Mrs. Browning.
Sense 4. Authoritative; peremptory. [Rare.]
The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed. Mrs. Browning.
Sense 5. Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing.
☞ 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.
Sense 6. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned; unrelated.
☞ It is in dispute among philosophers 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 or apprehended by the human intellect. — “To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word and thing, the recent philosophy of the Absolute.” Sir Wm. Hamilton.
Sense 7. (Chem.) Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
Sense 8. (Gram.) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence in government; as, the case absolute.
Absolute equation (Astron.), the sum of the optic and eccentric equations. — Absolute terms (Alg.), such as are known, or which do not contain the unknown quantity. Davies & Peck. — Absolute space (Physics), space considered without relation to material objects or limits. Davies & Peck.
Synonyms— Positive; peremptory; certain; unconditional; arbitrary; despotic.