An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A universal time supposed to be the same for all observers at any place in the Universe. Absolute time is one of the foundations of → Newtonian mechanics, but it fails to account for physical phenomena in → reference frames
with relative motion. Its abandoning was one of the starting points of → special relativity. See also → absolute space; → space-time.

See also: → absolute; → time.