late 14c., "unconditionally, completely," from absolute (adj.) + -ly (2). From mid-15c. as "without reference to anything else, not relatively;" meaning "to the utmost degree" emerged by mid-16c. As a colloquial emphatic, 1892, American English.
an absolutely magnificent painting
we are absolutely opposed to the idea
he forced himself to lie absolutely still
iron is absolutely necessary
absent-minded
absinthe
absit omen
absolute
absolute zero
absolutely
absoluteness
absolution
absolutism
absolutist
absolve