Absolute Adjectives Quiz

Can you pick the absolute adjectives?

created by Hejman

Click the matching answer button below
Correctly selected answers will show up in green
Source: Modern American Usage
From the OED: 'There is a set of adjectives whose core meaning embraces a mathematically absolute concept and which therefore, according to a traditional argument, cannot be modified by adverbs such as really, quite, or very.'
Also try: Most Common Adjectives

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Absolute Adjectives Quiz

by Hejman

Created May 22, 2012 in Language
Featured Aug 17, 2012
Game Plays 32,972

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Archived comments: show them

	defineexistence:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 18:47 GMT		19 points
	What a really perfect quiz. It would be very fatal to not get at least 10 correct.

	Beatlezfann:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 18:57 GMT		34 points
	5 globes for this quiz. It always grinds my gears when someone refers to something as being "very unique".

	thewildboo:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 19:24 GMT		14 points
	The order of results surprises me. Pregnant and Unique were the first two I clicked on and they're the two least-guessed. Those two are the ones that people seem to use as examples.

	BigRed78:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 19:35 GMT		40 points
	"Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead."

	moviegoer74:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 19:44 GMT		3 points
	"And mostly dead is slightly alive." Speaking of which, if dead is an absolute adjective, wouldn't it follow that alive is also? What am I missing?

	GorillaDust:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 19:57 GMT		8 points
	@moviegoer74: 'Alive' is an absolute adjective, just like 'dead'. This quiz has the word 'lively' in it, which does not mean the same thing and is not absolute.

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	mrmanheim:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 20:35 GMT		-4 points
	I do not know why there is so muchtime to click 12 words. Compared to many of the sporcle quizzes, this just seems odd. Shouldn't take more than 45 seconds tops to read and choose.

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	Parrsman:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 20:45 GMT		16 points
	@david6k: A lot of people also say 'very true' and 'really unique' but that doesn't mean they're grammatically correct

	TAR2:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 21:18 GMT		3 points
	Interesting that pregnant is the least guessed answer. It was the only one I had wrong too. Once you know it's one of the answers, it is obvious. So why are many of us skipping over it when taking the quiz? Weird.

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	diplomatt:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 21:51 GMT		9 points
	"Every time a televised vocal competition judge qualifies the word 'unique', an angel loses its wings." - Joshua Malina

	Speenatch:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 21:54 GMT		8 points
	@moviegoer74: I didn't get that from the title and note. The quiz doesn't claim to contain a comprehensive list; the title just implies a selection to be made, and the note simply defines an absolute adjective. If this quiz had set out to include every absolute adjective, there would be far more than 13 answers.

	bigal_95:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 22:04 GMT		32 points
	I think a certain group of farm animals may disagree with equal being absolute, the pigs anyway.

	laschmela:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 22:07 GMT		7 points
	I dunno, I've seen a woman or two who's looked REALLY, REALLY pregnant (Jessica Simpson).

	mustango:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 22:42 GMT		-1 points
	....for the very first time...

	Blimpyboy:	Aug 17th, 2012 at 22:55 GMT		2 points
	Seriously? Pregnant is the least-guessed answer?

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	MRL:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 00:28 GMT		11 points
	@DarkPhalanx: You're confusing context with degree. "Unique" doesn't take a degree, but is context-specific. E.g., in the context of "Sporcle user names", you are unique in that nobody else has the same Sporcle user name as you; in the context of "number of legs", you are not unique, as lots of people have the same number of legs as you. The size of the context changes, but in both cases, and any other you could name, "unique" remains a binary term. Either you're one of a kind in that context, or you're not.

	DarkPhalanx:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 00:48 GMT		3 points
	I see what you mean MRL. That makes sense. I suppose the reason I thought of it that way is because the example I was always given of how not to use the word is "He's a very unique individual," and since every individual is unique, saying "very" doesn't seem like a crime against the English language

	thunderman99:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 01:56 GMT		1 point
	@MRL how very true ;)

	CatLovin7:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 02:21 GMT		1 point
	I don't know that it's that odd pregnant is the least guessed. I personally was thinking in terms of "a pregnant pause" when I saw it, in which case it means something close to "significant." I'm pretty sure it's not absolute when used in that context.

	BrennanBooth:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 02:49 GMT		1 point
	I think one of the reasons pregnant is one of the least guessed is because it is so common to use a qualifier with it. You can have two women both days away from having a baby and one might only look like she's six months along while the other looks like she's having triplets which would easily lead to saying something like "very pregnant."

	juviejay:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 03:29 GMT		-3 points
	That was fairly simple.

	paperwalls:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 05:06 GMT		-2 points
	wow I'm surprised I got all of them right without really knowing what absolute adjectives are.

	jeez_louise:	Aug 18th, 2012 at 05:33 GMT		4 points
	@CatLovin7: your definition of pregnant pause is not defining the word "pregnant." A "significant pause" isn't absolute. Pregnant in that context means that the pause is about to bear something significant, much like a pregnant woman bears children.