The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
ABSOLUTE
absolute
(adjective) perfect or complete or pure; “absolute loyalty”; “absolute silence”; “absolute truth”; “absolute alcohol”
absolute, infrangible, inviolable
(adjective) not capable of being violated or infringed; “infrangible human rights”
absolute, downright, out-and-out, rank, right-down, sheer
(adjective) 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”
absolute
(adjective) not limited by law; “an absolute monarch”
absolute
(adjective) expressing finality with no implication of possible change; “an absolute guarantee to respect the nation’s authority”
absolute
(noun) 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”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
absolute (comparative more absolute or absoluter, superlative most absolute or absolutest)
Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional. [first attested in the late 1400s]
Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic. [first attested in the late 1400s]
Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory. [first attested in the mid 1500s]
Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree. [first attested around 1400]
Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed. [first attested in the mid 1500s]
Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way. [first attested in the late 1500s]
Positive, certain; unquestionable. [first attested in the early 1600s]
(archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person, opinion or prediction). [first attested in the early 1600s]
(especially, philosophy) Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards. [first attested in the late 1700s]
(physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative.
Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin.
(grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; not in a syntactical relation with other parts of a text, or qualifying the text as a whole rather than any single word in it, like "it being over" in "it being over, she left". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
(of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominative absolute or genitive absolute, accusative absolute or ablative absolute. [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
(of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
(of a, comparative or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
(of an, adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative).
(of a usually transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
(of Celtic languages) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of articles or compounded with a preverb.
Antonym: conjunct
(math) As measured using an absolute value.
(math) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional.
(education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
(art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art.
(obsolete) Absolved; free. [attested from the mid 1300s until the mid 1600s]
Synonyms
• (free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions): categorical, unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted
• (unlimited in power): autocratic, despotic
• (independent of references or relations to other things or standards): independent
Antonyms
• (free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions): conditional, limited
• (independent of references or relations to other things or standards): relative, dependent
Noun
absolute (plural absolutes)
That which is independent of context-dependent interpretation, inviolate, fundamental. [First attested in the mid 19th century.]
Anything that is absolute. [First attested in the mid 19th century.]
(geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
(philosophy, usually capitalized) A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego.
(philosophy, usually capitalized) The unity of spirit and nature; God.
(philosophy, usually capitalized) The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced.
(chemistry) A concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes; an alcoholic extract of a concrete.
Usage notes
• (not dependent on anything else): Usually preceded by the word the.
• (all, philosophy): Usually preceded by the word the
Anagrams
• bales out
Noun
Absolute (plural Absolutes)
(philosophy) That which is totally unconditioned, unrestricted, pure, perfect, or complete; that which can be thought of without relation to others. [First attested in the mid 19th century.]
Anagrams
• bales out
Source: Wiktionary
Ab"so*lute, a. Etym: [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.
2. Complete in itself; perfect; consummate; faultless; as, absolute perfection; absolute beauty. So absolute she seems, And in herself complete. Milton.
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.
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.
4. Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing.
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.
5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned; non-relative.
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. To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute. Sir W. Hamilton.
6. Positive; clear; certain; not doubtful. [R.] I am absolute 't was very Cloten. Shak.
7. Authoritative; peremptory. [R.] The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed. Mrs. Browning.
8. (Chem.)
Definition: Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
9. (Gram.)
Definition: Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence in government; as, the case absolute. See Ablative absolute, under Ablative. 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 -273Âş centigrade or -459.4Âş Fahrenheit.
Syn.
– Positive; peremptory; certain; unconditional; unlimited; unrestricted; unqualified; arbitrary; despotic; autocratic.
Ab"so*lute, n. (Geom.)
Definition: In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
1 May 2024
ABOUND
(verb) be in a state of movement or action; “The room abounded with screaming children”; “The garden bristled with toddlers”
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