ablative absolute

American  

noun

Latin Grammar.

1. a construction not dependent upon any other part of the sentence, consisting of a noun and a participle, noun and adjective, or two nouns, in which both members are in the ablative case, as Latin viā factā, “the road having been made.”

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ablative absolute British  

noun

1. an absolute construction in Latin grammar in which a governor noun and a modifier in the ablative case function as a sentence modifier; for example, hostibus victis, "the enemy having been beaten"

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Etymology

Origin of ablative absolute

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ablative absolute

But apparently, only a few youngsters mull over the ablative absolute out of sheer joy.

From Time Magazine Archive

And he says 'having no children'—in Latin the words may mean in case he had none, being in the ablative absolute.

From Sant' Ilario by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

An absolute construction, imitating the Latin ablative absolute.

From Minor Poems by Milton by John Milton

I do hope these chameleon artists will leave us the multiplication table, the yardstick, and the ablative absolute.

From Reveries of a Schoolmaster by Francis B. Pearson

The ablative absolute, so strongly characteristic of classical Latin, is never found, or only in one doubtful instance.

From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Charles Thomas Cruttwell