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Definition 2024

ablative absolute ‎(plural ablative absolutes)

(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.

linguistic construction in Latin