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.”

---

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"

---

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

Zamenhof states that the "ablative absolute" does not exist in Esperanto, as its use would be against the spirit of the language.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by George Cox

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

This construction, which answers more or less to the ablative absolute of Latin, and the genitive absolute of Greek, is common to all the Celtic languages. 

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Henry Jenner

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