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Absolute vs Average - What's the difference?

absolute | average |

As nouns the difference between absolute and average

is that absolute is (philosophy) that which is totally unconditioned, unrestricted, pure, perfect, or complete; that which can be thought of without relation to others while average is (legal|marine) financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss.

As an adjective average is

(not comparable) constituting or relating to the average.

As a verb average is

(informal) to compute the arithmetic mean of.

absolute

English

Alternative forms

*

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (obsolete) Absolved; free.
  • (obsolete) Disengaged from accidental circumstances.
  • (archaic) Complete in itself; perfect.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • So absolute she seems, And in herself complete.
  • (grammar) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence; as
  • # (of a case form) syntactically connected to the rest of the sentence in an atypical manner; ablative absolute; nominative absolute; genitive absolute; accusative absolute.
  • # standing by itself in a loose syntactical connection, and qualifying the sentence as a whole rather than any single word in it.
  • Anyhow in 'anyhow, I made it home' is an absolute .
  • # (of an adjective or possessive pronoun) lacking a modified substantive.
  • Hungry in 'Feed the hungry.'
  • # (comparative, superlative) expressing a relative term without a definite comparison.'
  • Older in 'An older person should be treated with respect.
  • # having no direct object.
  • Kill in 'If looks could kill...'
  • # (Irish, Welsh) an inflected verb that is not preceded by any number of articles or compounded with a preverb.
  • (obsolete) Absorbed in, as an occupation.
  • Unrestricted; in sole control; possessing absolute power; independent, as in ownership or authority.
  • Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
  • (figurative) Complete; utter; outright; unmitigated; entire; total; not qualified or diminished in any way; unrestricted; without limitation.
  • When caught, he told an absolute lie.
  • Unconditional; free from any conditions, limitations, and relations;
  • # having unlimited power, without limits set by a constitution, parliament, or other means.
  • # proceeding from or characteristic of an absolute ruler.
  • * 1962 , Hannah Arendt, On Revolution , (1990), page 155:
  • the more absolute' the ruler, the more ' absolute the revolution will be which replaces him.
  • # Absolutist; arbitrary; despotic.
  • Real; actual.
  • (archaic) Certain; free from doubt or uncertainty, as a person or prediction.
  • * (rfdate) (William Shakespeare), Cymbeline , Act 4, Scene 2:
  • I am absolute ’t was very Cloten.
  • Positive; unquestionable; peremptory.
  • Free from conditional limitations; operating or existing in full under all circumstances without variation.
  • (philosophy) Existing, able to be thought of, or able to be viewed without relation to other things.
  • absolute motion
    absolute time or space
    Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man in a state of nature as contradistinguished from ''relative'' rights and duties, or such as pertain to him in his social relations.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute .
  • Authoritative; peremptory.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed.
  • (philosophy) Fundamental; ultimate; intrinsic; free from the variability and error natural to the human way of thinking and perception.
  • (physics) Independent of arbitrary units of measurement not comparative or relative as,
  • # having reference to or derived from the simplest manner from the fundamental units of mass, time, and length.
  • # relating to the absolute temperature scale.
  • (legal) Complete; unconditional; final; without encumbrances; not liable to change or cancellation.
  • (education) Pertaining to a grading system based on the knowledge of the individual and not on the comparative knowledge of the group of students.
  • (art) Concerned entirely with expressing beauty and feelings, lacking meaningful reference.
  • (dance) Utilizing the body to express ideas, independent of music and costumes.
  • (math) Indicating an expression that is true for all real number; unconditional.
  • Derived terms

    * ablative absolute * absolute address * absolute curvature * absolute equation * absolute magnitude * absolute majority * absolute monarchy * absolute music * absolute pitch * absolute power * absolute space * absolute term * absolute temperature * absolute value * absolute zero

    Synonyms

    * categorical, unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted * (having unlimited power) autocratic, despotic * (complete in itself) fixed * (able to be viewed without relation to other things) independent

    Antonyms

    * conditional, limited * (able to be viewed without relation to other things) relative, dependent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which is independent of context-dependent interpretation, inviolate, fundamental.
  • moral absolutes
  • Anything that is absolute.
  • (geometry) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.
  • (philosophy, usually capitalized) 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 .
  • (philosophy, usually capitalized) The unity of spirit and nature; God.
  • (philosophy, usually capitalized) The whole of reality; the totality to which everything is reduced.
  • Concentrated natural flower oil, used for perfumes.
  • Usage notes

    * (not dependent on anything else) Usually preceded by the word the . * (sense) Usually preceded by the word the

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    average

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (legal, marine) Financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss.
  • * 2008 , Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, Richard Schaffer, Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, International Business Law and Its Environment , page 219,
  • Historically, the courts have allowed a general average' claim only where the loss occurred as a result of the ship being in immediate peril.The court awarded the carrier the general '''average''' claim. It noted that “a ship?s master should not be discouraged from taking timely action to avert a disaster,” and need not be in actual peril to claim general ' average .
  • Customs duty or similar charge payable on transported goods.
  • Proportional or equitable distribution of financial expense.
  • (mathematics) The arithmetic mean.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty
  • , date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}
    The average of 10, 20 and 24 is (10 + 20 + 24)/3 = 18.
  • (statistics) Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode.
  • (sports) An indication of a player's ability calculated from his scoring record, etc.
  • (UK, legal, obsolete) The service that a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the animals of the tenant, such as the transportation of wheat, turf, etc.
  • (UK, in the plural) In the corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets.
  • Usage notes

    * (sense) The term average' may refer to the statistical mean, median or mode of a batch, sample, or distribution, or sometimes any other measure of central tendency. Statisticians and responsible news sources are careful to use whichever of these specific terms is appropriate. In common usage, ' average refers to the arithmetic mean. It is, however, a common rhetorical trick to call the most favorable of mean, median and mode the "average" depending on the interpretation of a set of figures that the speaker or writer wants to promote.

    Coordinate terms

    * (measure of central tendency) arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean, mean, median, mode

    Derived terms

    * above average * average atomic mass * averager * batting average * below average * bowling average * earned run average * general average * grade point average * height above average terrain * law of averages * moving average * on average * particular average * rolling average * slugging average * subaverage * time average * weighted average * weighted-average cost of capital

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (not comparable) Constituting or relating to the average.
  • The average age of the participants was 18.5.
  • Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.
  • I soon found I was only an average chess player.
  • Typical.
  • * 2002 , Andy Turnbull, The Synthetic Beast: When Corporations Come to Life , page 12,
  • We tend to think that exceptionally attractive men and women are outstanding but the fact is that they are more average than most.
  • * 2004 , Deirdre V. Lovecky, Different Minds: Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits , page 75,
  • Things that never would occur to more average children, with and without AD/HD, will give these children nightmares.
  • * '2009'', Susan T. Fiske, ''Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology , page 73,
  • In other words, highly attractive people like highly attractive communicators and more average' people like more ' average communicators.
    The average family will not need the more expensive features of this product.
  • (informal) Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.
  • * 2002 , Andy Slaven, Video Game Bible, 1985-2002 , page 228,
  • The graphics, sound, and most everything else are all very average . However, the main thing that brings this game down are the controls - they feel very clumsy and awkward at times.
  • * 2005 , Brad Knight, Laci Peterson: The Whole Story: Laci, Scott, and Amber's Deadly Love Triangle , page 308,
  • But what the vast majority of the populace doesn?t realise is the fact that he?s only on TV because he became famous from one case, Winona Ryder's, which, by the way, he lost because he?s only a very average attorney.
  • * 2009 , Carn Tiernan, On the Back of the Other Side , page 62,
  • In the piano stool there was a stack of music, mostly sentimental ballads intended to be sung by people with very average voices accompanied by not very competent pianists.

    Synonyms

    * (constituting or relating to the average) mean; expectation (colloquial) * (neither very good nor very bad) mediocre, medium, middle-ranking, middling, unremarkable, so-so, * (typical) conventional, normal, regular, standard, typical, usual, bog-standard (slang) * ordinary, uninspiring

    Antonyms

    * (neither very good nor very bad) extraordinary

    Derived terms

    * average bear * average Joe * averagely * averageness

    Verb

    (averag)
  • (informal) To compute the arithmetic mean of.
  • If you average 10, 20 and 24, you get 18.
  • Over a period of time or across members of a population, to have or generate a mean value of.
  • The daily high temperature last month averaged 15°C.
  • To divide among a number, according to a given proportion.
  • to average a loss
  • To be, generally or on average.
  • * 1872 Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds
  • Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build

    Derived terms

    * average down * average out * average up * averageable * unaveraged