absent

[ adjective preposition ab-suhnt; verb ab-sent, ab-suhnt ]

adjective

1. not in a certain place at a given time; away, missing ( present ):

   absent from class.

   Synonyms: off, out

   Antonyms: present

2. lacking; nonexistent:

   Revenge is absent from his mind.

3. not attentive; preoccupied; absent-minded:

   an absent look on his face.

verb (used with object)

1. to take or keep (oneself ) away:

   to absent oneself from a meeting.

preposition

1. in the absence of; without:

   Absent some catastrophe, stock-market prices should soon improve.

absent

adjective

1. away or not present
2. lacking; missing
3. inattentive; absent-minded

verb

1. tr to remove (oneself) or keep away

Derived Forms

• abˈsenter, noun

Other Words From

• ab·sen·ta·tion [ab-s, uh, n-, tey, -sh, uh, n], noun
• ab·sent·er noun
• ab·sent·ness noun
• non·ab·sen·ta·tion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of absent¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin absent-, stem of absēns “being away,” present participle of abesse “to be away,” from ab- ab- + esse “to be”

Word History and Origins

Origin of absent¹

C14: from Latin absent-, stem of absēns, present participle of abesse to be away

Example Sentences

While the giant has made efforts recently to elevate quality reporting in its algorithms, most of those ranking decisions are made absent of human judgement.

From Axios

His social studies teacher was absent, which hadn’t been announced until the night before, and he hadn’t received the Zoom link for the substitute.

From ProPublica

Noticeably absent are the US, China, and Russia—all home to companies with Covid-19 vaccines in development.

From Quartz

Google, when looking at sites it knew it could trust around YMYL topics, determined that they were absent of marketing language on informational pages.

From Search Engine Land

Cultural influence shapes the gendered behavior of every human on this planet, meaning we cannot measure innate sex differences absent cultural factors.

From Nautilus

Absent a body, no one can say with absolute certainty whether Castro is dead, even if all signs point in that direction.

From The Daily Beast

But, they added, that body scanners are absent at local airports, which they called “this large loophole.”

From The Daily Beast

Noticeably absent are the multiple award nominations and high praise from critics.

From The Daily Beast

The absent turkey had been blown clean away in the hurricane force winds, I concluded.

From The Daily Beast

Kate has been absent from public view since the announcment was made on September 8.

From The Daily Beast

In pneumonia chlorids are constantly very low, and in some cases are absent entirely.

From Project Gutenberg

The infectious diseases in which leukocytosis is absent (p. 160) often cause a slight decrease of leukocytes.

From Project Gutenberg

Murat was absent, and there was no evil influence to cloud his friendship with his great chief.

From Project Gutenberg

Pepsin is rarely or never absent in the presence of free hydrochloric acid.

From Project Gutenberg

Since the two enzyms are almost invariably present or absent together, the test for rennin serves also as a test for pepsin.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• devoid
• empty
• lacking
• missing
• nonexistent
• unavailable
• vacant