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Secret vs Absolute - What's the difference?

secret | absolute |

As nouns the difference between secret and absolute

is that secret is (countable|uncountable) knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden while absolute is (philosophy) that which is totally unconditioned, unrestricted, pure, perfect, or complete; that which can be thought of without relation to others .

As an adjective secret

is being or kept hidden.

As a verb secret

is to make or keep secret.

secret

English

Noun

  • (countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
    • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets , spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • * Rambler
    • To tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.
  • (uncountable) Something not understood or known.
  • * Milton
    • All secrets of the deep, all nature's works.
  • (archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.

    • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * family secret * in secret * keep secret * open secret * Oxford secret * secretist * state secret * top secret * trade secret * Victoria's Secret

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being or kept hidden.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxix. 29
    • The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}
  • (obsolete) Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
  • * Fenton
    • secret in her sapphire cell
  • (obsolete) Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Secret Romans, that have spoke the word, / And will not palter.
  • (obsolete) Separate; distinct.
  • * Cudworth
    • They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.

    Alternative forms

    * secrette (obsolete)

    Synonyms

    * private * dern * confidential * concealed

    Antonyms

    * overt

    Derived terms

    * secret admirer * secret agent * secret ballot * secret code * secret partner * secret police * * secret Santa * secret service * secret society * secret writing * secretive * secretly * secretness * unsecret

    Related terms

    * secrete * secretion

    Verb

  • To make or keep secret.
  • * 1984 , Peter Scott Lawrence, Around the mulberry tree, Firefly Books, p. 26
    • [...] she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.
  • * 1986 , InfoWorld, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
    • Diskless workstations [...] make it difficult for individuals to copy information [...] onto a diskette and secret it away.
  • * 1994 , Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia, Mosaic Press, p. 50
    • To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.

    Usage notes

    * All other dictionaries label this sense 'obsolete', but the citations above and on the citations page demonstrate recent usage as part of the idiom "secret [something] away". * The present participle and past forms secreting and secreted are liable to confusion with the corresponding heteronymous forms of the similar verb secrete.

    Quotations

    *

    Derived terms

    * secrete

    References

    * “ †?secret, v.'']” listed in the '''' [2nd Ed.; 1989]
    Tagged as ''obsolete''. Notes: “In the inflected forms it is not easy to distinguish between ?''secret'' and [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50218071 secrete ''v.     ” * “ Se"cret' (?), v. t.]” listed on [http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?page=1301 page 1,301] of '''' (1913)
    '''Se"cret     (?), v. t. To keep secret. [Obs. ''Bacon .

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * ----

    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

    Related terms

    * absolution * absoluteness * absolutize * absolutization

    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

    *

    External links

    * (projectlink) *

    Anagrams

    * ----