absent

Plural: absents

Verb

Verb Forms: absented, absenting, absents

• To stay away from or fail to attend.
• go away or leave
  • "He absented himself"
• To keep (oneself) away.
• To keep (someone) away.
• Stay away; withdraw.
• Leave.
• To omit.

Adjective

• not being in a specified place

Adjective Satellite

• nonexistent
  • "the thumb is absent"
• lost in thought; showing preoccupation
  • "an absent stare"
  • "an absentminded professor"

Adj

• Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.
• Not existing.
• Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied.

Noun

• Something absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there.
• An absentee; a person who is not there.

Prep

• In the absence of; without; except.

Examples

• Absent taxes modern governments cannot function.
• Empathy seemed to be absent from the messages.
• He decided to absent himself from the chance at a bingo to block my move.
• Most of the men are retired, jobless, or have otherwise temporarily absented themselves from the workplace.
• Owing to his own illness and then his family's, Ramzi has often been absent from class this month. We will help him catch up with his studies.
• Signs of forced entry were absent.
• The body part was rudimentary or absent in 1% of specimens.
• Tom was there, but he seemed absent and withdrawn. Normally he is quite present [= engaged] during a meeting.
• When they were able to return to the clinic some months later, certain pieces of equipment were absent.

Synonyms

absentminded, abstracted, lacking, missing, remove, scatty, wanting

Antonyms

present, existing#Adjective, extant#Adjective, present#Adjective

Related Words

absence, absentee, absenteeism, absentia, in absentia

Anagrams of absent