absolute1 adjectiveabsolute2 noun
absoluteab‧so‧lute1 /ˈæbsəluːt/ ●●○ S3 adjective 
WORD ORIGINabsolute1
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin past participle of absolvere; ➔ ABSOLVEEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- an absolute standard of morality
- April 10 is the absolute deadline.
- His office is an absolute mess.
- No one can say with absolute certainty that the oil is there.
- The show was an absolute disaster the first night.
- As long as Robert Hirsh is alive, deejays will never be at the absolute bottom of the barrel.
- I know of no primitive people anywhere that either rejects and despises conflict or represents warfare as an absolute evil.
- In absolute figures, he/she had more.
- Oh, and Cal, Agnes sounds like an absolute winner.
- Reliance was also placed upon the power of absolute and immediate distress in the statute.
- The technique allows them to chill atoms to a temperature as low as a millionth of a degree above absolute zero.
- This is an absolute necessity and to work in defiance of it means total failure.
Longman Language Activatora complaint
· The carpet is completely ruined.· She felt completely relaxed.· Keith's dad was completely different from what I'd expected.· I intended to give you the card on Saturday but I completely forgot.· Sometimes the UK seems completely isolated from the main stream of European culture.
especially spoken say this when you strongly agree with something or approve of something, or to emphasize strong adjectives: absolutely right/correct: · You're absolutely right - we can't all fit in one car.absolutely marvellous/amazing/brilliant: · That's an absolutely brilliant idea.absolutely certain/sure: · Are you absolutely sure you don't mind?absolutely exhausted/soaked/ruined etc: · By the end of the day, I was absolutely exhausted.
use this especially to say that you have completely understood something or have everything that you need: fully understand/realize/appreciate: · I can fully understand your concern.fully aware/informed: · Please keep me fully informed of any developments.fully furnished/equipped: · The house is fully furnished, including washer and dryer.
use this especially to show that you completely disagree with something or that you are very annoyed about it: totally refuse/ignore/reject etc: · He totally ignored my advice.totally impossible/unacceptable/ridiculous etc: · What you're saying is totally ridiculous.· Myers said that a two-year prison sentence for rape was totally unacceptable and inadequate.
completely and in every possible way - use this especially in negative sentences, or with 'almost': · At the very beginning of the project, Paul made it clear that he would be entirely in control.not entirely: · I'm not entirely sure what she meant.· The reasons for his departure weren't entirely clear.consist entirely of: · The audience consisted almost entirely of journalists.depend entirely on: · The foundation depends entirely on voluntary contributions.
in every possible way - use this especially in negative sentences: not wholly responsible/reliable/committed etc: · The evidence we have is not wholly reliable.· The commission found that the officer on duty at the time was not wholly responsible.wholly unacceptable/unexpected/unfounded etc: · The city council's proposals are wholly unacceptable.· Help came from a wholly unexpected source.
use this especially to describe things that are completely wrong, untrue, impossible etc: utterly impossible/useless/worthless etc: · Without their help it would have been utterly impossible to arrange the conference.· Whether you like her or not is utterly irrelevant.utterly reject/spoil/destroy etc: · We utterly reject the philosophy of compulsory wage control.
use this to talk about an extreme situation or something extreme that someone has done: positively disgusting/harmful/dangerous etc: · The food in this place isn't just bad, it's positively disgusting.· Her performance was positively marvellous.
use this to emphasize how strong a feeling or quality is or how bad a situation is: · It was a complete surprise - I didn't have any idea they were planning a party.· Don't pay any attention to him - the guy's a total idiot!· Nobody can say with absolute certainty how much oil there is in Alaska.· By any measurement, our corrections program is an utter failure.
use this to say that something is true in every detail or part: · The two drawings are identical in every way.· The plans are unworkable in every respect.
use this when a word or phrase that you say is true in every possible way that it could be understood: · There are still men who want to be in every sense, the "head of the household'.in every sense of the word: · She was a true sportswoman -- a professional in every sense of the word.
if someone is good, bad etc through and through , every part of their character and behaviour shows that they are like that: · Don't trust him. He's rotten through and through.· Einstein was a realist through and through.· After 30 years in Queensland, he felt he was an Australian through and through.
: whole-heartedly agree/approve/support etc completely and willingly: · Her father whole-heartedly approved of their decision to get married.· Rowan whole-heartedly agreed that the company needed to do more to improve its ties to the community.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an absolute beginner It’s an absolute disgrace, the way he treats his wife. They described the war zone as sheer hell. ‘How was your exam?’ ‘Sheer hell!’ A car is an absolute necessity if you live in the country. The suggestion is absolute rubbish. I must stress the need for absolute secrecy about the project.
(=complete authority over everyone – used especially about the leader of a country)· In those days, the emperor had absolute authority.
· £59.99 is an absolute bargain.
an absolute beginner· A manager must be able to have complete confidence in his staff.
It’s an absolute disgrace, the way he treats his wife. (=complete and total hate)· His speech was an expression of pure hate.
They described the war zone as sheer hell. ‘How was your exam?’ ‘Sheer hell!’· He knew that he had Boyle's complete loyalty.
(=a majority that has been won by more than half the votes)· There was no party with an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
· His latest collection shows his complete mastery of painting with oils.
· Entries are limited to an absolute maximum of 100 words.
(=the very least amount)· He paid in five pounds, the bare minimum needed to keep the bank account open.
A car is an absolute necessity if you live in the country.· The whole day was an absolute nightmare.
(=complete nonsense)· He said that the charges against him were absolute nonsense.
· The King required absolute obedience.
(=total power, with no limits)· Parents had absolute power over children in those days.
The suggestion is absolute rubbish. I must stress the need for absolute secrecy about the project.· They sat in complete silence.· The silence in the room was absolute.
(=extreme terror)· On his face was an expression of absolute terror.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· Comments: A most undemanding and very hardy plant, which can be grown by the absolute beginner with great success.· Many of our students are absolute beginners who are looking to expand their artistic interests.· Comments: Very easy plant to grow even for the absolute beginner.· Courses cater for all levels of diver from the absolute beginner up to those who want to fine tune their technique.· The colour is white, to denote an absolute beginner.· Clever paint tricks Because there's more patience than skill involved in stencilling, it's a great technique for absolute beginners.· This applies whether you are an absolute beginner or experienced sailor.
· For they know with absolute certainty that one day it will come.· There was absolute certainty in his voice.· The threat to truth as the goal of science is not just a threat to absolute certainty.· They were up against the absolute certainty of guilt expressed by all the parties weighed against them.· That is, the position of a particle could not be defined with absolute certainty, but only by statistical probability.· He had to have absolute certainty.· An absolute certainty that no-one wishes you harm.· I did not know what I wanted to be but knew with absolute certainty what I did not want to be.
· Dalgliesh knew that no politician would have talked with such freedom unless he had had absolute confidence in his listener's discretion.· I did not fret about the delay, because by now I had absolute confidence in the men I was working with.· The niceties gave way to steely-eyed focus and thrilling adventure built on absolute confidence.· An absolute confidence that what was about to happen had to happen.
· In totalitarian states absolute control of information and the armed forces is the key to the survival of the despot.· For those fifteen years, the wills gave the designated trustee absolute control, and the trustee was Mark.· Ideally the vendor will wish to retain absolute control over the way in which the business is managed.· I believe your correspondent forgets we are a private company still in absolute control of 75 percent of it.· The absolute control they have over their voices was stunning, their harmonising superb.
· Cancellation by us may be necessary in exceptional circumstances and we reserve the right in our absolute discretion to cancel your holiday.· The correction official possessed almost absolute discretion over the parole decision.· The Council of the Research Defence Society reserves absolute discretion as to who shall be elected to membership.
· Next door's goings on were an absolute disgrace.· After 13 years, it is an absolute disgrace that no input has been made to tackling unemployment.
· Some women who come from exactly the same culture with the same intent go through absolute hell.· The first month was absolute hell, especially as I didn't have a watch.
· In absolute levels, we have fallen off only from the historically high 1980 figures.· This striking rate of growth should not obscure the fact that the absolute level of industrial activity was still extremely low.· Historical evidence suggests that it is not the absolute level of unemployment which restrains wage claims but its rate of change.
· His pole was impaling her to the absolute limit, and she began panting as if she'd just run the four-minute mile.· With this information in mind, clients decide on two sets of limits, a regular and an absolute limit.· Weight-lifting is a specialised form of muscle-building which requires the body to use its muscles to the absolute limit.· Leese was good at knowing the absolute limits of aircraft.· His quest for glory has caused him to stretch his energies to the absolute limit.· But it is important to push yourself to the absolute limits of your endurance.
· The second round was contested in the 58 constituencies where no candidate had gained an absolute majority in the first round.· The elections are by secret ballot, and an absolute majority is required.· Since the latter did not obtain an absolute majority, a run-off contest would be held on Feb. 2.· National secured an absolute majority with only 35.1 % of the vote.· It was only after the SPÖ failed to win an absolute majority in the general election of 1983 that he stood down.· No party won an absolute majority and the outgoing government remained in office in a caretaker capacity as inter-party negotiations took place.· If there is a party with an absolute majority in the lower house it will form the government.· As they controlled an absolute majority of shares, the club was effectively closed.
· Seventy-five words absolute maximum per entry, but you may submit as many entries as you like.
· As an absolute minimum they will hold the member liable for any failure to supervise.· However, the objective must be to reduce the intake of all pesticides to the absolute minimum.· In principle, platform numbers should be kept to an absolute minimum.· Everyone, whether on a slimming diet or not, should reduce this kind of sugar to an absolute minimum.· Weighing ten kilograms a pair, I have to make sure the rest of my belongings are kept to an absolute minimum.· Make do with the absolute minimum.· Expatriate vehicles are kept to an absolute minimum, and site offices are merely caravans.· In view of the substantial sums of money involved, risks must be reduced to the absolute minimum.
· For Durkheim this explained the harshness of punishment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when absolute monarchy was at its height.
· This is an absolute necessity and to work in defiance of it means total failure.· White gloves and a pillbox hat were absolute necessities.· Design, development and management have in common the absolute necessity of taking action based on incomplete information.· Artificial light is an absolute necessity for the developments of plants.· There are two infestations that are commonly transmitted in this way although there is no absolute necessity for this mode of transmission.· Careful searching of the literature is an absolute necessity in the preparation of any study and solution to problems.· Supplies of liquid helium are an absolute necessity in many modern science laboratories.
· That's absolute nonsense, James.· Statement E: Racism as rational self interest I think that's absolute nonsense.· The Commission's proposals on beef are absolute nonsense.
· By 2001 this younger group are expected to decline in absolute numbers by some 238,000 - around 5%.· The same was true for nearly half of the 30 occupations adding the most jobs in absolute numbers.· The country has one of the highest rates of executions both in absolute numbers and per capita.· Comparing the absolute number of patents filed between countries is difficult because of different national patent regimes.· The absolute number of adults classed as disabled increases continuously with age up to 79 years and then decreases slightly.· Look for percentages which are shown without the original absolute numbers.· In terms of both absolute numbers and numbers of species, beetles are the most successful group of animals on the planet.· First, they tell us only about absolute numbers of drug users or drug-related events, and not about population rates.
· By 2001 this younger group are expected to decline in absolute numbers by some 238,000 - around 5%.· The same was true for nearly half of the 30 occupations adding the most jobs in absolute numbers.· The country has one of the highest rates of executions both in absolute numbers and per capita.· Look for percentages which are shown without the original absolute numbers.· In terms of both absolute numbers and numbers of species, beetles are the most successful group of animals on the planet.· First, they tell us only about absolute numbers of drug users or drug-related events, and not about population rates.· The numbers in square brackets are the absolute numbers, given to illustrate the incidence of both in the data.· Indicated below are the absolute numbers of thymocytes.
· More than half of lone parents with two or more children had incomes below their absolute poverty level at £227 a week.· The rich get richer and the rural population is doomed to remain in absolute poverty.· As a whole group they are in relative or absolute poverty, in contrast to the general adult population of working age.· Glare was to be observed in greater strictness and in absolute poverty.· Indeed, over the period in question, many tens of millions joined the hundreds of millions already suffering from absolute poverty.· This means that at least another 6 million children are living in absolute poverty but are not receiving benefits.· Relative poverty, more markedly than absolute poverty, clearly rose rapidly throughout the 1970s.
· It can be addictive, for power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.· Would a system not be a dictatorship if the ruler is unable to exercise absolute power?· None had foreseen the assumption of absolute power by one of their own number.· I have vast, absolute power over him.· Even among left-wing clergy the idea of endowing one man with absolute power is abhorrent.· We begin by looking at power relationships, not at the absolute power of any single individual.· It is, however, wrong to think of the Prime Minister as having absolute power.· Bishops enjoy almost absolute power, and the laity have no means of rejecting a candidate, no matter how unsuitable.
· Politicians often claim that human life is beyond economic calculation and must be given absolute priority whatever the cost.· Understandably, they took absolute priority over the quantitative measures.· Priority one double A means drop everything else, this has absolute priority.· Some, including Mr Townsend himself, would give it an absolute priority.
· Difficulties have arisen as to whether letters written to Ministers by M.P.s in the course of their duties are covered by absolute privilege.· Strauss alleged that this was an infringement of his absolute privilege of free speech and as such was a contempt of Parliament.· Communications between a person and his legal advisor have absolute privilege which can only be waived by the client.
· The absolute right of an editor or journalist to opt for a personal hearing before a complaints committee would be removed.· Any competent adult has the absolute right to refuse to be examined by any particular individual.· Some authorities give the misleading impression that they alone have the absolute right to deliver certain services to the public.· Nomatterwhat the Home Secretary has said, clauses 5 and 6 mean that there will be no absolute right of appeal.· First, there appears to be no absolute right to such representation.· He has no absolute rights over her.· The third proposal is that parents should have absolute rights to choose the school that their children should attend.
· All those stories about Sandra being mistaken for Lady Lucan are absolute rubbish as far as I am concerned.
· No absolute rule can be laid down as to the way the subordinate judge should proceed.· However, having considered the arguments, Lord Bingham said that it was not a subject that lent itself to absolute rules.
· Secrecy Rule 2.1 stresses the need for absolute secrecy before an announcement is made.· In the area of basic national defense the frequent need for absolute secrecy is, of course, self-evident.· Until radicals grasped the need to conduct their affairs in absolute secrecy, their chances of conspiring effectively were remote.
· In particular, contingent entities can not be individuated in an absolute sense by any kind of descriptive phrase.· Nothing very terrible, finally-at least not in any absolute sense.· Proteins are asymmetric in an absolute sense in that every copy of the polypeptide chain has the same orientation.· As long as the elements never attain their natural places in an absolute sense, things will continue much as they are.
· The air was delicate and there was a complete, absolute silence.· The lights, the stillness, the absolute silence can capture the soul.· But there was absolute silence in the house.· The woods were in absolute silence.· I sit down here in the absolute silence with my reflection, in a sort of state of mystery.· The nomes stood in absolute silence.
· Everything I have told you is the absolute truth.· He says the compulsion of scientists to find the absolute truth can lead to a kind of intellectual tyranny.· Roy always asked for ` the absolute truth with no cushions'.· It was a sudden, absolute truth, never again to be questioned.· Any self-declared woman-centred account or interpretation of experience can assume the status of absolute truth.· So relative truth is necessary to convey the meaning of absolute Truth which we affirm in faith.· They wrestle with ways to reconcile pluralism with the absolute Truth of the Torah.· But there have been other claims to knowledge of absolute Truth.
· Near absolute zero, however, molecules have much less thermal energy.· And those which are work only at temperatures close to absolute zero.· The catch is that it operates only at temperatures just above absolute zero.· We're at one millionth of a degree above absolute zero.· This corresponds to a temperature of -273°C or 0 K. This is the temperature called absolute zero.· Kobe Steel supplied the liquid-helium refrigerator for super-chilling the magnets close to absolute zero.· All matter at temperatures above that of absolute zero emits infrared radiation.· On the absolute scale of temperature, 0 K is called absolute zero.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
1complete or total: - In absolute terms, the experiment wasn't a complete failure.
- Although the balance of power is shifting against the commission, in absolute terms it will gain power.
- City rents are falling in absolute terms for the first time in 25 years.
- Despite the severe cuts imposed in late 1976, public spending continued to rise in absolute terms.
- Relative savings of only a few percent in this area can therefore mean sizeable savings in absolute terms.
- Sometimes priorities can be expressed in absolute terms but at other times absolutes are impossible.
- The ambitious goal of reducing real total public expenditure in absolute terms was never achieved.
- The benefits sometimes received by strikers' families also rose in absolute terms.
- Their brains are larger in absolute terms than those of chimps but relative to body size, they are considerably smaller.
I have absolute confidence in her. We don’t know with absolute certainty that the project will succeed.2[only before noun] especially British English informal used to emphasize your opinion about something or someone: Some of the stuff on TV is absolute rubbish. How did you do that? You’re an absolute genius. That meal last night cost an absolute fortune.3definite and not likely to change: We need absolute proof that he took the money.4not restricted or limited: an absolute monarch Parents used to have absolute power over their children.5true, correct, and not changing in any situation: You have an absolute right to refuse medical treatment.6in absolute terms measured by itself, not in comparison with other things: In absolute terms wages have risen, but not in comparison with the cost of living.absolute1 adjectiveabsolute2 noun
absoluteabsolute2 noun [countable] EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- In business, there are very few absolutes.
- As a religion humanism affirms some important absolutes.
- But the left can not be equally self-serving by hanging on to absolutes.
- By declaring a set of absolutes, it supplies standards as well as goals for both individuals and institutions.
- Communities need absolutes, ideals of truths, transcendent sources of authority which are unchanged and unchangeable.
- If there are no absolutes or eternal values, then the moral imperative behind such movements evaporates into thin air.
- If there ever was an absolute, this comes close to being one of them.
- Sometimes priorities can be expressed in absolute terms but at other times absolutes are impossible.
- Species can, in the new world of the molecules, no longer be seen as absolutes.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES an absolute beginner It’s an absolute disgrace, the way he treats his wife. They described the war zone as sheer hell. ‘How was your exam?’ ‘Sheer hell!’ A car is an absolute necessity if you live in the country. The suggestion is absolute rubbish. I must stress the need for absolute secrecy about the project.
something that is considered to be true or right in all situations: (=complete authority over everyone – used especially about the leader of a country)· In those days, the emperor had absolute authority.
· £59.99 is an absolute bargain.
an absolute beginner· A manager must be able to have complete confidence in his staff.
It’s an absolute disgrace, the way he treats his wife. (=complete and total hate)· His speech was an expression of pure hate.
They described the war zone as sheer hell. ‘How was your exam?’ ‘Sheer hell!’· He knew that he had Boyle's complete loyalty.
(=a majority that has been won by more than half the votes)· There was no party with an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
· His latest collection shows his complete mastery of painting with oils.
· Entries are limited to an absolute maximum of 100 words.
(=the very least amount)· He paid in five pounds, the bare minimum needed to keep the bank account open.
A car is an absolute necessity if you live in the country.· The whole day was an absolute nightmare.
(=complete nonsense)· He said that the charges against him were absolute nonsense.
· The King required absolute obedience.
(=total power, with no limits)· Parents had absolute power over children in those days.
The suggestion is absolute rubbish. I must stress the need for absolute secrecy about the project.· They sat in complete silence.· The silence in the room was absolute.
(=extreme terror)· On his face was an expression of absolute terror.
She believed in the importance of moral absolutes.