Revised as of
27 Jan 2023
An absolute word is one that is complete and total. Words that are inclusive, all-encompassing, an end in themselves, and cannot be modified in any way.
Think about it.
If you are unique, you are the ONLY one of your kind. You are unlike ANYthing else. You’re not more unique than her. Or him, for that matter *grin* On the bright side, you can’t be less unique.
She’s dead. She’s not too dead. She’s not sort of dead. She’s not mostly dead. She’s not deader than him. She’s not less dead or more dead. She’s either dead, or she’s alive.
Your boss may ask if you’ve finished the project. So, either it’s complete or it’s not complete. No, it’s not half completed. It may be half done, but you have not come to the end and dotted all the is or crossed all the ts.
If you get the urge to modify an absolute word — very unique, less perfect, almost finite, etc. — get out the thesaurus and find a better word.
Let me know if you have an absolute word you’d like to see added to the list.
Grammar Explanations is . . .
. . . an evolving list of the structural rules and principles that determines where words are placed in phrases or sentences as well as how the language is spoken. Sometimes I run across an example that helps explain better or another “also known as”. Heck, there’s always a better way to explain it, so if it makes quicker and/or better sense, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on an area of grammar with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.
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| Absolute Words | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Part of Speech: Adjective | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definition: A word that leaves no room for flexibility or even a single exception; it cannot be more or less. It’s 100% all-or-nothing.
Rule: Absolute words can be adjectives, adverbs, determiners, nouns, pronouns, or verbs. Rule: Do not mix absolute words with:
A.k.a. absolute modifier, extreme adjective, incomparable, non-gradable adjective, ultimate modifier |
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| The Evolving List of Absolute Words | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| absolute adequate alive all always ancient anhydrous astounding avoidable awake awful basic best black blameless boiling brilliant broken cautious central certain chemical colorless complete confirmed correct dead defeated defective devoid different digital domestic double each empty end enormous enough entire entirely equal essential eternal every everybody everyday everyone everything exact excellent exhausted extinct |
faithful false fantastic fascinating fatal faulty favorite filthy final finest finite first flawless foolish foreign freezing full fully furious giant gigantic gone gorgeous greatest guiltless guilty harmless hideous hilarious hopeless horrible huge ideal identical immediate immortal imperfect impossible inaccurate incomparable incomplete incredible incurable individual inevitable inferior infinite innocent invulnerable irrefutable irregular irrevocable |
just known lacking last literally main malfunctioning married meaningful minor missing mortal multiple must necessary needless never no no one nobody none nonfat not nuclear obvious omnipotent one-of-a-kind only opposite overjoyed overwhelmed packed perfect possible precise preferable pregnant premeditated present principal public pure rare reckless redundant ridiculous right round secondary sensible silent single |
spotless square starving straight superior supreme sure temporary terrible terrified thorough thrilled tiny total true ultimate unanimous unavoidable unblemished unbroken unclear uncolored unconditional undecided unequal unimportant unique universal unknown unlimited unmarried unnecessary unpopular unquestionable unsuccessful up valid vital void vulnerable white whole widespread will wonderful worst wrong |
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| Clues | Definition: Clues to potential absolute words may be contained in prefixes or suffixes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prefix Clues | Rule: Whenever you see adjectives that start with the following prefixes, it could be an absolute word. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Suffix Clues | Rule: Whenever you see adjectives that end with the following suffixes, it could be an absolute word. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Modifiers to Avoid | Rule: Absolute words may not be modified by qualifiers, as modifiers strip absolute words of their true meaning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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absolutely almost approximately extremely |
more most quite |
rather really very |
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| Modifier Exceptions | Rule: There are some absolute adjectives that can be quantified. Use your common sense to determine when one of these modifiers is acceptable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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absolutely almost |
completely nearly |
utterly virtually |
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| The Evolving List of NON-absolute Words | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a majority a minority a small number commonly could countless doubtful few for a long time |
frequently hardly any improbable infrequently many may may be may have been might |
might have been most not many numerous often possibly probably rarely repeatedly |
seldom some sometimes sporadically unlikely usually |
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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Grammar Explanations by exploring its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Absolute Words
Nordquist, Richard. “Absolute Adjectives: Definition and Examples.” ThoughtCo. 14 April 2019. Web. 19 May 2020. <https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-absolute-adjective-1689047>.
Steinemann, Kathy. “300+ Absolute Adjectives: A Word List for Writers.” n.d. Web. 19 May 2020. <https://kathysteinemann.com/Musings/absolute/>.
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