What's the difference between absolute and comparative?

Absolute


Definition:

  • (a.) Loosed from any limitation or condition; uncontrolled; unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority, monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command; absolute power; an absolute monarch.
  • (a.) Complete in itself; perfect; consummate; faultless; as, absolute perfection; absolute beauty.
  • (a.) Viewed apart from modifying influences or without comparison with other objects; actual; real; -- opposed to relative and comparative; as, absolute motion; absolute time or space.
  • (a.) Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing.
  • (a.) Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned; non-relative.
  • (a.) Positive; clear; certain; not doubtful.
  • (a.) Authoritative; peremptory.
  • (a.) Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
  • (a.) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence in government; as, the case absolute. See Ablative absolute, under Ablative.
  • (n.) In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The absolute recoveries of diazepam, nordazepam and flurazepam in human milk were 84, 86 and 92% and in human plasma 97, 89 and 94%, respectively.
  • (2) Other haematological parameters remained normal, with the exception of the absolute number of lymphocytes, which initially fell sharply but soon returned to, and even exceeded, control levels.
  • (3) No relationship was found with the absolute value of either peak or area GH.
  • (4) The guanethidine treatment resulted in an 86% absolute reduction in cell number in the superior cervical ganglia of 15 day old rats.
  • (5) The absolute level of ventilatory capacity resembles that of Nepalese children and differs from that of some other groups.
  • (6) Lipoprotein electrophoresis on agarose gel has been modified to allow estimation of the absolute quantity of each fraction.
  • (7) Paired tolbutamide and glucose infusions using a square wave technique demonstrated that although early phase insulin secretion is dimished in the fetus, this is not due to an absolute deficiency of stored insulin.
  • (8) Significant differences in the pharmacological characteristics of the alpha 2 adrenoceptor were observed between the tissues with reference to both absolute drug affinities as well as rank order of drug potency.
  • (9) This stimulation is mediated by one receptor with an apparent affinity of 3.3 X 10(-6) M. The hydroxyl group in the para position on phenylethanolamine was absolutely necessary to obtain an agonist whereas the meta hydroxyl group or the presence of a catechol almost suppressed the activity.
  • (10) The early absolute but transient dependence of these A-MuLV mast cell transformants on a fibroblast feeder suggests a multistep process in their evolution, in which the acquisition of autonomy from factors of mesenchymal cell origin may play an important role.
  • (11) From this it is clear that either an absolute increase in radiographic density or structural failure are the earliest radiological features.
  • (12) So far, attempts to produce linolenic acid deficiency in mammals have not revealed an absolute requirement for n-3 fatty acids.
  • (13) "We absolutely regret the setbacks Kim Dotcom has had since MegaUpload was taken offline, but we hope he as an entrepreneur will understand our side of the story and the decisions deliberately taken."
  • (14) But we sent out reconnoitres in the morning; we send out a team in advance and they get halfway down the road, maybe a quarter of the way down the road, sometimes three-quarters of the way down the road – we tried this three days in a row – and then the shelling starts and while I can’t point the finger at who starts the shelling, we get the absolute assurances from the Ukraine government that it’s not them.” Flags on all Australian government buildings will be flown at half-mast on Thursday, and an interdenominational memorial service will be held at St Patrick’s cathedral in Melbourne from 10.30am.
  • (15) The prime minister said: “I am taking absolutely nothing for granted.
  • (16) DR(+) cells, however, showed no change in percentage and a lesser drop in absolute numbers, suggesting an increase with advancing disease of DR(+), Ig(-) null cells, which may represent immature B cell precursors.
  • (17) The wide variation in potency explains the variation found in absolute bioavailability, and the increase in release rate when the pellets are crushed explains the differences seen in peak plasma times, since the pellets will be chewed to varying degrees by the horse.
  • (18) Methods are in development that will allow determination of absolute blood flow in pertinent vessels via IV-DSA.
  • (19) When using pair stimula, barbamil shortens the period of absolute nonexcitation and the second phase of depression in the cycle of restituted H-reflexes to the second stimula in the pair.
  • (20) Immune complex- and A23187-induced 20:4 release was absolutely dependent on extracellular Ca2+.

Comparative


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to comparison.
  • (a.) Proceeding from, or by the method of, comparison; as, the comparative sciences; the comparative anatomy.
  • (a.) Estimated by comparison; relative; not positive or absolute, as compared with another thing or state.
  • (a.) Expressing a degree greater or less than the positive degree of the quality denoted by an adjective or adverb. The comparative degree is formed from the positive by the use of -er, more, or less; as, brighter, more bright, or less bright.
  • (n.) The comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs; also, the form by which the comparative degree is expressed; as, stronger, wiser, weaker, more stormy, less windy, are all comparatives.
  • (n.) An equal; a rival; a compeer.
  • (n.) One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In contrast, arteries which were exposed to CO showed a higher uptake of cholesterol as compared to their corresponding control.
  • (2) Disease stabilisation was associated with prolonged periods of comparatively high plasma levels of drug, which appeared to be determined primarily by reduced drug clearance.
  • (3) In this study of ten consecutive patients sustaining molten metal injuries to the lower extremity who were treated with excision and grafting, treatment with compression Unna paste boot was compared with that with conventional dressing.
  • (4) For some time now, public opinion polls have revealed Americans' strong preference to live in comparatively small cities, towns, and rural areas rather than in large cities.
  • (5) This study compares the mortality of U.S. white males with that of Swedish males who have had the highest reported male life expectancies in the world since the early 1960s.
  • (6) In this article we report the survival and morbidity rates for all live-born infants weighing 501 to 1000 gram at birth and born to residents of a defined geographic region from 1977 to 1980 (n = 255) compared with 1981 to 1984 (n = 266).
  • (7) The ability of azelastine to influence antigen-induced contractile responses (Schultz-Dale phenomenon) in isolated tracheal segments of the guinea-pig was investigated and compared with selected antiallergic drugs and inhibitors of arachidonic acid metabolism.
  • (8) The 1989 results were compared with those of a similar survey performed in 1986.
  • (9) As the percentage of rabbit feed is very small compared to the bulk of animal feeds, there is a fair chance that rabbit feed will be contaminated with constituents (additives) of batches previously prepared for other animals.
  • (10) These lysates are comparable to those of Escherichia coli in transcriptional and translational fidelity and efficiency in response to a given template DNA.
  • (11) The cumulative incidence of grade II and III acute GVHD in the 'low dose' cyclosporin group was 42% compared to 51% in the 'standard dose' group (P = 0.60).
  • (12) The procedure was used on 71 occasions, and in each case a clinical diagnosis was made and compared with the cytological diagnosis made independently by a pathologist.
  • (13) The subcellular distribution of sialyltransferase and its product of action, sialic acid, was investigated in the undifferentiated cells of the rat intestinal crypts and compared with the pattern observed in the differentiated cells present in the surface epithelium.
  • (14) Children of smoking mothers had an 18.0 per cent cumulative incidence of post-infancy wheezing through 10 years of age, compared with 16.2 per cent among children of nonsmoking mothers (risk ratio 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.21).
  • (15) Collagen production of rapidly thawed ligaments was studied by proline incubation at 1 day, 9 days, or 6 weeks after freezing and was compared with that of contralateral fresh controls.
  • (16) This study compared the non-invasive vascular profiles, coagulation tests, and rheological profiles of 46 consecutive cases of low-tension glaucoma with 69 similarly unselected cases of high-tension glaucoma and 47 age-matched controls.
  • (17) Needle acupuncture did, however, increase the pain threshold compared with the initial value (alpha = 0.1%).
  • (18) Yields of Thiobacillus dentrificans on different substrates were compared.
  • (19) The effects of hormonal promotion of T24-ras oncogene-transfected rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) were compared to cotransformation of these cells with adenovirus E1A and ras.
  • (20) A subsample of patients scoring over the recommended threshold (five or above) on the general health questionnaire were interviewed by the psychiatrist to compare the case detection of the general practitioner, an independent psychiatric assessment and the 28-item general health questionnaire at two different cut-off scores.