Definify.com

Definition 2024


ablative_absolute

ablative absolute

English

Noun

ablative absolute (plural ablative absolutes)

  1. (linguistics) A construction in Latin in which an independent phrase with a noun in the ablative case has a participle, expressed or implied, which agrees with it in gender, number and case both words forming a clause grammatically unconnected with the rest of the sentence.
Examples
  • Tarquinio regnante, Pythagoras venit.
    (Tarquinius reigning, Pythagoras came. or
    When Tarquinius was king, Pythagoras came.)
  • The food being good, they ate well.

Translations

See also