Absolute

How to spell absolute

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce absolute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does absolute mean?

1. adjectiveTotal and complete, not qualified or limited in any way.
2. nounA value, principle, or truth held to be valid universally and without exception.

Absolute in a sentence

• adjective

  The new manager demanded absolute silence during the meeting.

• noun

  The philosophy lecture argued that morality is not an absolute.

• adjective

  She had absolute confidence in the safety of the bridge.

• noun

  He treated honesty as an absolute that no situation could override.

Where does absolute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin absolutus, the past participle of the verb absolvere, which meant 'to set free', 'to complete', or 'to bring to a finish'. That verb was built from ab-, meaning 'from' or 'away', and solvere, meaning 'to loosen' or 'release', so the literal idea was something loosened from all limits and therefore finished and whole. English took it in during the late 1300s, by way of Old French and directly from Latin, first in the sense of something complete and unconditional. The same solvere root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'solve', 'dissolve', and 'absolve', all carrying that core notion of loosening or freeing. Remembering that the middle is 'solut', from the verb to loosen, helps fix the single l and the o-l-u sequence that writers sometimes scramble.

How the word is built

• ab- (from, away)
• solut- (loosened, freed; from solvere 'to loosen')
• -e