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Synonyms

AWOL

American  
[ey-wawl, ey-wol] / ˈeɪ wɔl, ˈeɪ wɒl /
Also absent without leave or awol,

adjective

  1. away from military duties without permission, but without the intention of deserting.

noun

  1. a soldier or other military person who is absent from duty without leave.

idioms

  1. go AWOL,

    1. to depart from military duty without leave.

    2. to absent oneself without explanation.

AWOL British  
/ ˈeɪwɒl /

adjective

  1. military absent without leave; absent from one's post or duty without official permission but without intending to desert

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
AWOL More Idioms  

  1. see absent without leave.

Etymology

Origin of AWOL

First recorded in 1915–20; A(bsent) W(ith)o(ut) L(eave)

Explanation

If you're absent without permission, you're awol. Your mom may announce she'll be awol from work for the rest of the week, and that you can find her in the backyard lying in the hammock. When a student is truant from school — simply doesn't show up, with no explanation or excuse — she is awol. Likewise, a volunteer at an animal shelter who skips his weekly shift is awol. This term is actually an acronym, an abbreviation of the military phrase "absent without leave." You'll often see it spelled in all capital letters: AWOL. The term became popular around World War II in the US military, and it caught on with civilians in the 1960s.

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Vocabulary lists containing awol

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Videos abound of Roombas terrorizing pets, making epic messes and going AWOL.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 12, 2026

The Church's own published list of accused clergy marks his case as "not yet resolved" with no final determination of guilt or innocence, noting simply that he is "AWOL" - absent without leave.

From BBC • May 6, 2025

Can you take us inside James's head when he does go AWOL?

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2024

Two hours later, around midnight, his commander responded: “I’m reporting you as AWOL, unauthorized abandonment of the unit. It was nice fighting together.”

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2023

Each time he went AWOL, he was caught and sentenced to dig and fill up holes six feet deep, wide and long for a specified length of time.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.