absolute: [14] Absolute, absolution, and absolve all come ultimately from the same source: Latin absolvere ‘set free’, a compound verb made up from the prefix ab- ‘away’ and the verb solvere ‘loose’ (from which English gets solve and several other derivatives, including dissolve and resolve). From the 13th to the 16th century an alternative version of the verb, assoil, was in more common use than absolve; this came from the same Latin original, but via Old French rather than by a direct route.
The t of absolute and absolution comes from the past participial stem of the Latin verb – absolūt-. The noun, the adjective, and the verb have taken very different routes from their common semantic starting point, the notion of ‘setting free’: absolve now usually refers to freeing from responsibility and absolution to the remitting of sins, while absolute now means ‘free from any qualification or restriction’. => dissolve, resolve, solve
absolute (adj.)
late 14c., "unrestricted; complete, perfect;" also "not relative to something else" (mid-15c.), from Middle French absolut (14c., Old French asolu, Modern French absolu), from Latin absolutus, past participle of absolvere "to set free, make separate" (see absolve).
Most of the current senses also were in the Latin word. Sense evolution was "detached, disengaged," thus "perfect, pure." Meaning "despotic" (1610s) is from notion of "absolute in position." Absolute monarchy is recorded from 1735 (absolute king is recorded from 1610s); scientific absolute magnitude (1902), absolute value (1907) are from early 20c. In metaphysics, the absolute "that which is absolute" is from 1809.
雙語例句
1. The industry minister described the affair as "an absolute scandal".
工業部長將此事件形容為“絕對的丑聞”。
來自柯林斯例句
2. I think he's an absolute stinker to do that to her.
我認為他那樣對待她真太缺德了。
來自柯林斯例句
3. In absolute terms British wages remain low by European standards.
根據歐洲標準，英國工資的絕對值依然很低。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Attorneys are ethically and legally bound to absolute confidentiality.
道德和法律都要求律師們絕對保密。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Four foot should be seen as an absolute minimum.