absolute

«absolute» in Mova's school dictionary: total, complete, as much as possible: absolute silence — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (absolute); noun (an absolute — formal, rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) Absolute means total, complete, as much as possible: absolute silence. tree →

2) Certain and not changing: an absolute rule. tree →

3) (maths) The absolute value of a number is its distance from zero, always positive or zero. tree →

4) An absolute ruler has complete power. tree →

5) (informal) Used for force: an absolute disaster, an absolute legend. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: absolute value |−5| = 5; in science: absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature); in everyday talk to make a word stronger; in history: absolute monarchs.

examples

• There was absolute silence during the test. tree →
• The absolute value of minus seven is seven. tree →
• Nothing can be colder than absolute zero. tree →
• The king had absolute power. tree →
• That party was an absolute disaster! tree →
• You're an absolute star for helping. tree →
• Safety is an absolute must on the trip. tree →

note

Not used with «more» or «very». In maths |x| means absolute value: |−3| = 3 and |3| = 3; distances use it so they are never negative. Adverb: absolutely.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «absolute» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.