absolute

Word family

ab·so·lute1 /ˈæbsəluːt/ S3 adjectiveadj

1 COMPLETELYcomplete or total 完全的；彻底的

I have absolute confidence in her.

我对她充满信心。

We don’t know with absolute certainty that the project will succeed.

我们没有绝对的把握这个项目一定会成功。

2 [only before noun] especially British EnglishBrE informal used to emphasize your opinion about something or someone 十足的；绝对的〔用于强调〕

Some of the stuff on TV is absolute rubbish.

电视上播放的有些东西简直就是垃圾。

How did you do that? You’re an absolute genius.

你是怎么做的？你绝对是个天才。

That meal last night cost an absolute fortune.

昨晚那顿饭花了一大笔钱。

3 CERTAINLY/DEFINITELYdefinite and not likely to change 确实的，无疑的

We need absolute proof that he took the money.

我们需要确凿的证据，证明他拿了钱。

4 LIMITnot restricted or limited 不受限制[约束]的

an absolute monarch

专制君主

Parents used to have absolute power over their children.

过去父母对孩子有绝对权力。

5 true, correct, and not changing in any situation 绝对的，不会改变的

You have an absolute right to refuse medical treatment.

你有绝对权利，可以拒绝接受治疗。

6 in absolute terms COMPAREmeasured by itself, not in comparison with other things 从绝对意义上说

In absolute terms wages have risen, but not in comparison with the cost of living.

从绝对意义上说，工资是提高了，但同生活费用相比较的话，其实没有提高。

Examples from the Corpus

in absolute terms• 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.• The benefits sometimes received by strikers' families also rose in absolute terms.• Sometimes priorities can be expressed in absolute terms but at other times absolutes are impossible.• City rents are falling in absolute terms for the first time in 25 years.• Although the balance of power is shifting against the commission, in absolute terms it will gain power.• Their brains are larger in absolute terms than those of chimps but relative to body size, they are considerably smaller.• In absolute terms, the experiment wasn't a complete failure.• The ambitious goal of reducing real total public expenditure in absolute terms was never achieved.

Examples from the Corpus

absolute• Reliance was also placed upon the power of absolute and immediate distress in the statute.• As long as Robert Hirsh is alive, deejays will never be at the absolute bottom of the barrel.• No one can say with absolute certainty that the oil is there.• April 10 is the absolute deadline.• The show was an absolute disaster the first night.• 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.• His office is an absolute mess.• This is an absolute necessity and to work in defiance of it means total failure.• an absolute standard of morality• Oh, and Cal, Agnes sounds like an absolute winner.• The technique allows them to chill atoms to a temperature as low as a millionth of a degree above absolute zero.

absolute2 noun [countableC]

something that is considered to be true or right in all situations 绝对真理

She believed in the importance of moral absolutes.

她认为道德上的绝对准则十分重要。

Examples from the Corpus

absolute• If there ever was an absolute, this comes close to being one of them.• Species can, in the new world of the molecules, no longer be seen as absolutes.• In business, there are very few absolutes.• As a religion humanism affirms some important absolutes.• Sometimes priorities can be expressed in absolute terms but at other times absolutes are impossible.• 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.• By declaring a set of absolutes, it supplies standards as well as goals for both individuals and institutions.• But the left can not be equally self-serving by hanging on to absolutes.

Origin absolute1

(1300-1400) Latin past participle of absolvere; → ABSOLVE

Chinese

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Corpus