Sentence:  `` Since 1692 a great but superficial change has wiped out God 's beard and the Devil 's horns , but the world is still gripped between two diametrically opposed <WSD>absolutes</WSD> . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  something that is conceived or that exists independently and not in relation to other things; something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control; something that is not relative