[Grammar] Relatively, Absolutely

[OhioMain]

"The cost of the project was considered relatively high."
"The cost of the project was considered absolutely high."

Could the second sentence be the standard opposite of the first.

 

[FreeToyInside]

While I'd agree that relative and absolute are opposites, I don't feel that these two sentences are opposite in meaning, just a varying degree of 'high cost'. The first is kind of high, a bit high, high when compared to similar projects. The second is extremely high, whether for this kind of project or something else, it's a very large cost.

I'd say that a sentence expressing the opposite of the entire meaning would include the word 'low'.
"The cost of the project was considered relatively low" I feel is opposite in meaning to the first sentence.


(not a teacher, just a language lover)

 

[5jj]

The second is simply not natural English, in my opinion. Neither prices nor anything else can be absolutely high.

 

[OhioMain]

Thank you for your reply, 5jj!

I made a mistake in the first post. If the cost of a project was being calculated:

1 "The cost of the project was considered relatively."
2 "The cost of the project was considered in relative terms."

3 "The cost of the project was considered absolutely."
4 "The cost of the project was considered in absolute terms."

Could 1 = 2, and 3 = 4?

 

[FreeToyInside]

The second is simply not natural English, in my opinion. Neither prices nor anything else can be absolutely high.

I was thinking the same thing actually, but I thought of the way people speak in an exaggerated or emphatic way, and could picture somebody saying that with the intention of it being equivalent to 'extremely' or something like that. But I agree, it sounds very odd.


(not a teacher, just a language lover)

 

[emsr2d2]

We can use "absolutely" with certain adjectives for this context.

The cost was absolutely astronomical!
The cost was absolutely ridiculous!