ablative absolute
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.”
Origin of ablative absolute
1Words Nearby ablative absolute
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ablative absolute in a sentence
The first three lines might have been expressed by an ablative absolute in two words—Troia euersa.
The Oxford Book of Latin Verse | VariousThis he remembered had interrupted the silent rehearsal of the sentence with the ablative absolute in it.
Princeton Stories | Jesse Lynch WilliamsTo-night I have a pressing engagement with the ablative absolute.
Daddy Long-Legs | Jean WebsterTry to remember, Quinlan, what I told you about the use of the ablative absolute.
Short Sixes | H. C. BunnerAs for the ablative absolute, its reconstruction and regeneration have been the inspiring principle of my studious manhood.
Average Jones | Samuel Hopkins Adams
British Dictionary definitions for ablative absolute
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"
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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