# What is an Absolute Word?™

This is in the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it an Absolute Word™.
Use the examples below to find the rule.

$$\begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Absolute Words }^™}& \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Not Absolute Words }^™}\\ \hline \text{ WET}&\text{ DRY}\\ \hline \text{ MUNICIPALITY}&\text{ DISTRICT}\\ \hline \text{ ADVERTORIAL}&\text{ COMMERCIAL}\\ \hline \text{ HAND}&\text{ FOOT}\\ \hline \text{ NAUGHT}&\text{ ZERO}\\ \hline \text{ TRAINSPOTTING }&\text{ ECSTASY}\\ \hline \text{ CINEMATOGRAPHER}&\text{ PHOTOGRAPHER}\\ \hline \text{ GRASSHOPPER}&\text{ CRICKET}\\ \hline \text{ VOLLEYBALL}&\text{ BADMINTON}\\ \hline \text{ ITALIC}&\text{ BOLD }\\ \hline \text{ UNICORN}&\text{ DRAGON}\\ \hline \text{ EXCEPTION}&\text{ RULE}\\ \hline \text{ PERSPECTIVE}&\text{ VIEW}\\ \hline \text{ JOURNALIST}&\text{ CORRESPONDENT}\\ \hline \text{ ACHE }&\text{ PAIN}\\ \hline \text{ MATCH}&\text{ CONTEST}\\ \hline \text{ OUTGOING}&\text{ EXTROVERT }\\ \hline \text{ CATHEDRAL}&\text{ CHURCH}\\ \hline \end{array}$$

In case you want it in CSV:

Absolute Words™,Not Absolute Words™
WET,DRY
MUNICIPALITY,DISTRICT
HAND,FOOT
NAUGHT,ZERO
TRAINSPOTTING,ECSTASY
CINEMATOGRAPHER,PHOTOGRAPHER
GRASSHOPPER,CRICKET
ITALIC,BOLD
UNICORN,DRAGON
EXCEPTION,RULE
PERSPECTIVE,VIEW
JOURNALIST,CORRESPONDENT
ACHE,PAIN
MATCH,CONTEST
OUTGOING,EXTROVERT
CATHEDRAL,CHURCH


The puzzle relies on the series' inbuilt assumption, that each word can be tested for whether it is a Absolute Word™ without relying on the other words.

These are not the only examples of Absolute Words™, many more exist.

Hint:

Ordering the words in an obvious way (both alphabetical and by word length could prove helpful) might help you spot the rule.

Hint 2:

Think of "absolute" in a mathematical way.

A word is an Absolute Word if

its length equals the (absolute) distance apart in the alphabet of the letters at its ends.

(There was another word-property puzzle with a very similar answer: What is a Regular Word™?)

• +1 for the right catch of the similar one. Still not sure how do you see puzzles :D – Techidiot Nov 24 '16 at 18:39
• Sorry for the duplicate. Turns out to be harder than I thought to come with something original.. – Levieux Nov 24 '16 at 23:11
• I wouldn't worry about it. There have been an awful lot of these and no one can be expected to have memorized them all. (And yours was a little different.) – Gareth McCaughan Nov 24 '16 at 23:14