different between absolute vs patent

English

Alternative forms

• abs.
• absolut (obsolete)

Etymology

First attested around 1380. From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absol?tus (“unconditional; unfettered; completed”), perfect passive participle of absolv? (“loosen, set free, complete”), from ab (“away”) + solvo (“to loose”). Influenced in part by Old French absolu. Compare absolve.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?æb.s??lu?t/, (archaic) /?æb.s??lju?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æb.s??lut/, /?æb.s??lut/

Adjective

absolute (comparative more absolute or absoluter, superlative most absolute or absolutest)

1. Free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions; unconditional. [first attested in the late 1400s]
   • 1658, Samuel Hoard, God[']s Love to Mankind, Manifested, by disprooving his absolute decree for their damnation
   • 2005, Names, volume 53, page 238:

     While Americans enjoy an almost absolute freedom to name their children whatever they please, in Germany the State (as public guardian of the good of the child) restricts parents [...]

   1. Unrestricted by laws, a constitution, or parliamentary or judicial or other checks; (legally) unlimited in power, especially if despotic. [first attested in the late 1400s]
      • 1846, George Gillespie, The Presbyterian's Armoury:

        An absolute monarch is free from all forcible restraint, and so far as he is absolute[,] from all legal restraints of positive laws.

      1. Characteristic of an absolutist ruler: domineering, peremptory. [first attested in the mid 1500s]
         • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh:

           The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, / With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed.

         • 1962, Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, (1990), page 155:

           […] the more absolute the ruler, the more absolute the revolution will be which replaces him.

2. Free from imperfection, perfect, complete; especially, perfectly embodying a quality in its essential characteristics or to its highest degree. [first attested around 1400]
3. Pure, free from mixture or adulteration; unmixed. [first attested in the mid 1500s]

4. Complete, utter, outright; unmitigated, not qualified or diminished in any way. [first attested in the late 1500s]
   • 2008, Household Economy Approach (?ISBN), page 3:

     The growth and acceptance of this idea followed Amartya Sen's theory of exchange entitlements, which suggested that famines occur not from an absolute lack of food but from people's inability to obtain access to that food.

5. Positive, certain; unquestionable. [first attested in the early 1600s]
   • 1862, The Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, volume 6, page 365:

     Yet if the register is not to be absolute evidence of proprietorship, it is clear that some investigation of title would still be necessary.

   • 1913, International Record of Medicine and General Practice Clinics:

     [...] and in the absence of other signs, or when these latter are inconclusive, it is extremely useful. But it is not, under any circumstances, absolute evidence of the syphilitic nature of a given symptom or set of symptoms.

6. (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty (e.g. a person, opinion or prediction). [first attested in the early 1600s]
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2:

     I am absolute ’t was very Cloten.

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh:

     The colour of my hair—he cannot tell, / Or answers "dark," at random,—while, be sure, / He's absolute on the figure, live or ten, / Of my last subscription.

7. (especially philosophy) Fundamental, ultimate, intrinsic; not relative; independent of references or relations to other things or standards. [first attested in the late 1700s]

8. (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement, standards, or properties; not comparative or relative.
   1. Having reference to or derived in the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
   2. Relating to the absolute temperature scale (based on absolute zero); kelvin.
   • 1903, Ice and Refrigeration, volume 24, page 49:

     His experiments led him to infer that the boiling point of the substance is probably below 9 degrees absolute.

   • 2015, Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett, Physics for Scientists and Engineers (?ISBN):

     This new absolute temperature scale (also called the Kelvin scale) employs the SI unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, [...]

9. (grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; not in a syntactical relation with other parts of a text, or qualifying the text as a whole rather than any single word in it, like "it being over" in "it being over, she left". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   1. (of a case form) Syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner, or not relating to or depending on it, like in the nominative absolute or genitive absolute, accusative absolute or ablative absolute. [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   2. (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) Lacking a modified substantive, like "hungry" in "feed the hungry". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   3. (of a comparative or superlative) Expressing a relative term without a definite comparison, like "older" in "an older person should be treated with respect". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   4. (of an adjective form) Positive; not graded (not comparative or superlative).
      • 1991, English Grammar, 3rd Edition:

        Even when the absolute form of an adverb ends in -ly, the comparative and superlative are identical with the corresponding forms of the adjective: badly, worse, worst.

   5. (of a usually transitive verb) Having no direct object, like "kill" in "if looks could kill". [first attested around 1350 to 1470]
   6. (of Celtic languages) Being or pertaining to an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of articles or compounded with a preverb.

      Antonym: conjunct

10. (mathematics) As measured using an absolute value.

11. (mathematics) Indicating an expression that is true for all real numbers, or of all values of the variable; unconditional.
12. (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
13. (art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art.

14. (obsolete) Absolved; free. [attested from the mid 1300s until the mid 1600s]

Synonyms

• (free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions): categorical, unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted
• (unlimited in power): autocratic, despotic
• (independent of references or relations to other things or standards): independent

Antonyms

• (free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions): conditional, limited
• (independent of references or relations to other things or standards): relative, dependent

Derived terms

Related terms

• absolution
• absoluteness
• absolutize
• absolutization

Translations

Noun

absolute (plural absolutes)

1. That which exists (or has a certain property, nature, size, etc) independent of references to other standards or external conditions; that which is universally valid; that which is not relative, conditional, qualified or mitigated. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]

   moral absolutes

   • 1944, United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, World Freedom of Press and Radio, Editorials Submitted...: Senate Concurrent Resolution 50, Senate Concurrent Resolution 52, Senate Concurrent Resolution 53, House Concurrent Resolution 97, page 30:

     There is a well-known generalization that human rights come before property rights. […] Unqualified absolutes like these do not contain the truth as tested by human experience. What we do say is that human rights and property rights are related to one another, are intertwined with one another, work with and play upon one another.

   • 1987, Harold Bloom, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Chelsea House Pub:

     But if the psychoanalytic mood seems gloomy or pretentious, one may merely think of Anna as a person who comes to deal in absolutes: unconditional demands, total fears, extremities of power and subservience, […]

   • 2002, Jordan Zarren, MSW, DAHB, Jordan I. Zarren, Bruce N. Eimer, Brief Cognitive Hypnosis: Facilitating the Change of Dysfunctional Behavior, Springer Publishing Company (?ISBN), page 97:

     Notice the use of unconditional absolutes in each of these statements. They are the words always, never, and forever. The illusion of absolutes is the ultimate pathological double bind. Yet the only absolute is that there are no absolutes.

   • 2010, Joshua K. Hildebrandt, The Knowledge of Good and Evil: Who Decides What Is Morally Right and Wrong?, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 9:

     This is important to understand, for when we see that the knowledge of good and evil is an absolute, we realize we can have absolutely no say in what it is or is not. Pause for a moment and consider that. Mathematicians work in absolutes.

   • 2010, Klaus Brinkmann, Idealism Without Limits: Hegel and the Problem of Objectivity, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 265:

     The reason is that we are confronted here with a genuine moral dilemma, i.e. a clash of two moral absolutes – the unconditional right to protection of the fetus from the point of fertilization; and the unconditional protection of the right to choose of the pregnant woman.

   • 2012, P. Katsoyannis, The Chemistry of Polypeptides: Essays in Honor of Dr. Leonidas Zervas, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 132:

     Often one is dealing not with absolutes (complete stability) but with relative differences in rate (see below).

   • 2016, I. Unah, The Supreme Court in American Politics, Springer (?ISBN), page 187:

     When discussing these concepts, it is unreasonable to expect absolutes. Complete impact, complete compliance with Court decisions, and complete implementation are a myth even for the most admired Supreme Court decisions.

2. (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
3. (philosophy, usually capitalized, usually preceded by "the") A realm which exists without reference to anything else; that which can be imagined purely by itself; absolute ego.
   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 1039:

     Withdrawn as a Buddha he sat, watching the alien world from his perch in the absolute.

4. (philosophy, usually capitalized, usually preceded by "the") The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced; the unity of spirit and nature; God.
5. (chemistry) A concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes; an alcoholic extract of a concrete.
   • 1948, Ernest Guenther, The Essential Oils: History, origin in plants, production, analysis:

     Complete concentration in a vacuum still at low temperature results in a concentrated flower oil, free from alcohol, the so-called absolute of enfleurage. The crude absolutes of enfleurage are usually of dark color and, because of their fat content,  […]

   • 2019, William A. Poucher, Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps: The Production, Manufacture and Application of Perfumes: Volume 2 (?ISBN), page 57:

     The main difference between these and those of indifferent quality is that the former contain flower absolutes in fairly large proportion and the latter either an insignificant quantity or  […]

Translations

References

Further reading

• Absolute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Absolute in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.
• absolute in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• bales out

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

absolute

1. Inflected form of absoluut

Esperanto

Etymology

From absoluta +? -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abso?lute/
• Hyphenation: ab?so?lu?te
• Rhymes: -ute
• Audio:

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely (in an absolute manner; utterly, positively, wholly)
2. (with negation) absolutely (in a complete manner; fully, totally, completely)

   Synonyms: tute, nepre

3. (grammar) absolutely (in a manner that does not take an object)

German

Adjective

absolute

1. inflection of absolut:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Ido

Etymology

From absoluta +? -e. Borrowed from Esperanto absolute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ab.so?lu.te/

Adverb

absolute

1. absolutely

Latin

Etymology

From absol?tus (“complete, finished”).

Adverb

absol?t? (comparative absol?tius, superlative absol?tissim?)

1. absolutely, completely, fully

Related terms

• absol?tus

References

• absolute in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• absolute in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• absolute in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• absolute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Swedish

Adjective

absolute

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of absolut.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pe?t?nt/, /?pæ-/
• (General American) enPR: p?t??nt, p?t??nt, IPA^(key): /?pæt?nt/, [p?æ??n?t], /?pe?-/, [p?e??-]
• Hyphenation: pa?tent

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:

• a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
• directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patens, littera patens, litterae patentes).

For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

patent (countable and uncountable, plural patents)

1. (law)
   1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
   2. (specifically)
      1. (originally) A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
      2. A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.
   3. (US, historical) A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
2. (by extension) A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
3. (uncountable) Short for patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
4. (figuratively)
   1. A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
   2. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

patent (third-person singular simple present patents, present participle patenting, simple past and past participle patented)

1. (transitive, law)
   1. To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.
   2. (US, historical) To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin pat?ns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pate? (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth?- (“to spread out; to fly”).

Adjective

patent (comparative more patent, superlative most patent)

1. Conspicuous; open; unconcealed.

   Synonym: overt

   1. (baking) Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
   2. (medicine) Open, unobstructed; specifically, especially of the ductus arteriosus or foramen ovale in the heart, having not closed as would have happened in normal development.

   3. (medicine, veterinary medicine) Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
2. Explicit and obvious.

   Synonyms: express, monosemous, unambiguous; see also Thesaurus:explicit, Thesaurus:obvious
3. (archaic)
   1. Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.

   2. Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
4. (botany) Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
5. (law) Protected by a legal patent.

   Synonym: patented
6. (by extension, figuratively) To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• patent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Patten, patten, pét-nat

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /p??tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /p??ten/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pa?tent/

Noun

patent m (plural patents)

1. patent

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?pat?nt]

Noun

patent m

1. patent (declaration issued by a government to an inventor)

Derived terms

• patentový

Danish

Noun

patent n (singular definite patentet, plural indefinite patenter)

1. patent

Declension

Related terms

References

• “patent” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa??t?nt/
• Hyphenation: pa?tent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French patente, from lettres patentes (“letter in which a privilege is granted”), from Latin litterae patentes.

Noun

patent n (plural patenten, diminutive patentje n)

1. patent [from 16th c.]

   Synonym: octrooi

Derived terms

• patentrecht

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: paten

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German patent, originating in student slang. Related to etymology 1.

Adjective

patent (comparative patenter, superlative patentst)

1. excellent, exquisite [from mid 19th c.]

   Synonyms: geweldig, voortreffelijk

Inflection

German

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Adjective

patent (comparative patenter, superlative am patentesten)

1. clever
2. ingenious

Declension

Further reading

• “patent” in Duden online

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?pa.tent/, [?pät??n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?pa.tent/, [?p??t??n?t?]

Verb

patent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of pate?

Middle English

Etymology 1

From a short form of lettres patentes, from Anglo-Norman lettre patente (“open letter”), from Latin littera patens.

Alternative forms

• patente, patentt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?t?nt/, /?pat?nt/

Noun

patent (plural patentes)

1. A letter conferring a privilege or status.
2. Such a privilege or status conferred.
3. (rare) A letter conferring other advantages.

Descendants

• English: patent (noun)

References

• “patent(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Middle French patent, from Old French, from Latin pat?ns.

Alternative forms

• patente

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?t?nt/, /?pat?nt/

Adjective

patent

1. (rare) open, unconfined, unrestricted

Descendants

• English: patent (adjective)

References

• “patent(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Noun

patent

1. Alternative form of patene

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Short form of Anglo-Norman lettre patente.

Noun

patent n (definite singular patentet, indefinite plural patent or patenter, definite plural patenta or patentene)

1. patent

Related terms

• patentere

References

• “patent” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Short form of Anglo-Norman lettre patente.

Noun

patent n (definite singular patentet, indefinite plural patent, definite plural patenta)

1. patent

References

• “patent” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From French patente, from Latin pat?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pa.t?nt/

Noun

patent m inan

1. patent (official declaration that someone is the inventor of something)

Declension

Further reading

• patent in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• patent in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French patent.

Adjective

patent m or n (feminine singular patent?, masculine plural paten?i, feminine and neuter plural patente)

1. patent

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?tent/
• Hyphenation: pa?tent

Noun

pàtent m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. patent (official declaration that someone is the inventor of something)

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?t?nt/

Noun

patent n

1. patent

Declension

Related terms

Anagrams

• patten