absent

comparative absenter · superlative absentest · alternative abs.

1. not comparableBeing away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.First known use First attested around 1350 to 1470.

   When they were able to return to the clinic some months later, certain pieces of equipment were absent.

   2 more examples

   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.

   Expecting absent friends.

   1623, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II-iii

   Antonyms: present

2. not comparableNot existing.First known use First attested around 1350 to 1470.

   Signs of forced entry were absent.

   2 more examples

   The body part was rudimentary or absent in 1% of specimens.

   Empathy seemed to be absent from the messages.

   Antonyms: present, existing, extant

3. comparableInattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied.First known use First attested in the early 18ᵗʰ century.

   Tom was there, but he seemed absent and withdrawn. Normally he is quite present [= engaged] during a meeting.

   2 more examples

   What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man.

   1746-1747, Chesterfield, Letters to his Son

   For days Ailie had an absent eye and a sad face, and it so fell out that in all that time young Heriotside, who had scarce missed a day, was laid up with a broken arm and never came near her.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

   Antonyms: present

plural absents · alternative abs.

1. with definite articleSomething absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there.First known use 15th c.

   The Applause he met with exceeds all belief of the Absent.

   1772, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 30 May

   1 more example

   That very sense of longing, of yearning for the absent, which 'nostalgia' conveys to us now.

   1947, Cecil Day Lewis, Poetic Image

2. ScotlandobsoleteAn absentee; a person who is not there.First known use 15th–19th c.

alternative abs.

1. In the absence of; without; except.First known use First attested in the mid 20ᵗʰ century.

   Absent taxes modern governments cannot function.

   5 more examples

   If the accused refuse upon demand to pay money or deliver property (absent any excuse or excusing circumstance) which came into his hands as a bailee, such refusal might well constitute some evidence of conversion, with the requisite fraudulent intent required by the statute.

   1919, “State vs. Britt, Supreme Court of Missouri, Division 2”, in The Southwestern Reporter, page 427

   the Princess Caroline case […] established that – absent a measurable ‘public interest’ in publication – she was safe from being photographed while out shopping.

   2011, David Elstein, London Review of Books, volume 33, number 15

   About 25 percent of Russia’s large farms continue to be unprofitable, and that number would be considerably higher absent government subsidies and assistance programs.

   2013, Stephen K. Wegren, “Agriculture”, in Stephen K. Wegren, editor, Return to Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain, 5th edition, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 223

   And the distraction-management software Freedom offers a mode that won’t unlock affected apps absent a telephone-support call.

   2019 September 5, Ian Bogost, “I tried to limit my screen time (It didn't go well)”, in The Atlantic

   California cannot promulgate regulations that are inconsistent with US federal laws absent an explicit waiver from the federal government.

   2020, Anu Bradford, “8. Is the Brussels Effect Beneficial?”, in The Brussels Effect. How the European Union Rules the World, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 258

present singular third person absents · participle present absenting · participle past absented · past absented · alternative abs.

1. reflexiveTo keep (oneself) away.

   Most of the men are retired, jobless, or have otherwise temporarily absented themselves from the workplace.

   4 more examples

   Absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story.

   ca. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

   If after due summons any member absents himself, he is to be fined.

   1701-1703, Addison, Remarks on Italy

   This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.

   1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC

   Some people expect that the news should be written "professionally," that it should conform to certain "journalistic standards," and that it should not "editorialize." And this is tantamount to saying it should be written objectively, that we should absent ourselves when writing copy.

   1986 December 7, Marcos Bisticas-Cocoves, “Just the Facts, Miss Thing”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 21, page 1

2. archaictransitiveTo keep (someone) away.First known use First attested around 1350 to 1470.

   Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;

   1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

3. intransitiveobsoleteStay away; withdraw.First known use Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 18ᵗʰ century.

   The iron rule of the plantation, always passionately and violently enforced in that neighborhood, makes flogging the penalty of failing to be in the field before sunrise in the morning, unless special permission be given to the absenting slave.

   1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC

4. raretransitiveLeave.First known use First attested around 1350 to 1470.
5. raretransitiveTo omit.

   Such sequences draw attention to the affective appeals that environmental documentary typically makes, precisely by absenting those appeals.

   2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 61

   1 more example

   When we realize that the digitalisation of the image involves - by reducing and even absenting - the role of 'the physical', the 'sensuous' (by reducing and eventually absenting the indexical aspects of the image) […]

   2004, Paul Willemen, “Reflections on Eisenstein and Digital Imagery: Of Mice and Men”, in The Montage Principle, page 188