non-appearance

A form of nonappearance — A failure to appear, especially at a legal trial.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounnon-appearance (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of nonappearance.

    Their non-appearance caused some serious issues and generated many passenger complaints in the early 1990s.

    2024 April 17, Peter Plisner, “A fond farewell to Cross-City stalwarts”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 39
    2 more examples

    The strangest conjectures were made as to the cause of Mr. Floyer’s absence, and in the midst of her anxiety and alarm it struck Adeline with dismay to observe how unaccountable Mr. Lawson thought his friend’s non-appearance, and what concern he frequently expressed about it.

    1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter VII, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 144–145

    Inevitably there was disappointment at the non-appearance of the two vintage locomotives on three of the excursions, but obviously they could not be in two places at once.

    1960 June, “Our Easter Excursions”, in Trains Illustrated, page viii

Origin

From non- + appearance.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

non-appearance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-appearance

MLA

“non-appearance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-appearance. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-appearance,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-appearance.

Source: non-appearance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.