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Derived from an object by itself; not dependent on changing circumstances or relations; absolute; -- opposed to relative; as, the idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes individuals.

on, between theory and practice; each, to a certain extent, supposes the other; theory is dependent on practice; practice must have preceded theory. Sir W. Hamilton.

strain introducing the theme or chief subject; a movement introductory to a fugue, yet independent; -- with recent composers often synonymous with overture. The last Georgic was a good prelude to the Ænis Addison. The cause is more than the prelude, the effect is more than the sequel, of the fact. Whewell.…

A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.

ountries, a licensed teacher or lecturer having no share in the university government and dependent upon fees for remuneration.

peworm. It contains both male and female reproductive organs, and is capable of a brief independent existence.

The authority assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs.

A country or region dependent on a distant authority; a portion of an empire or state, esp. one remote from the capital. "Kingdoms and provinces." Shak.

e. I. Watts. (b) That which in ordinary natural sequence produces a specific result, no independent disturbing agencies intervening. -- Proximate principle (Physiol. Chem.), one of a class of bodies existing ready formed in animal and vegetable tissues, and separable by chemical analysis, as albumin, sugar, collagen,…

be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve; - - often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause. Chaucer. Did nothing purpose against the state. Shak. I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living. Macaulay.…

Pertaining to, or dependent on, pyroelectricity; receiving electric polarity when heated.

pregnancy. It has been popularly supposed to be due to the fetus becoming possessed of independent life.

intended to level class inequalities; -- opposed to conservative. In politics they [the Independents] were, to use phrase of their own time. "Root-and-Branch men," or, to use the kindred phrase of our own, Radicals. Macaulay.

nominalism, the doctrine that genera and species are real things or entities, existing independently of our conceptions. According to realism the Universal exists ante rem (Plato), or in re (Aristotle).

The act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence. Bacon.

e state of being revalescent. Would this prove that the patient's revalescence had been independent of the medicines given him Coleridge.

ch. -- Root-and-branch men, radical reformers; -- a designation applied to the English Independents (1641). See Citation under Radical, n., 2. -- Root barnacle (Zoöl.), one of the Rhizocephala. -- Root hair (Bot.), one of the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They are prolongations of the…

le, the places above which were assigned to the guests of distinction, and those below to dependents, inferiors, and poor relations. See Saltfoot. His fashion is not to take knowledge of him that is beneath him in clothes. He never drinks below the salt. B. Jonson. -- Acid salt (Chem.) (a) A salt derived from an acid w…

An attendant attached to a prince or other powerful person; hence, an obsequious dependent. "The satellites of power." I. Disraeli.

Any affection of the skin dependent on scrofula.