absent.
Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.
Meaning & usage
Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.
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.
When they were able to return to the clinic some months later, certain pieces of equipment were absent.
Not existing.
The body part was rudimentary or absent in 1% of specimens.
Empathy seemed to be absent from the messages.
Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied.
Tom was there, but he seemed absent and withdrawn. Normally he is quite present [= engaged] during a meeting.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Italic *ap Latin abder. Latin ab- Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum Latin absum Latin absēnsder. Old French ausentder. Middle French absentbor. ▲ Latin absēnsbor. Middle English absent English absent From Middle English absent, from Middle French absent, from Old French ausent, and their source, Latin absens, present participle of absum (“to be away from”), from ab (“away”) + sum (“to be”).
Something absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there.
An absentee; a person who is not there.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Italic *ap Latin abder. Latin ab- Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum Latin absum Latin absēnsder. Old French ausentder. Middle French absentbor. ▲ Latin absēnsbor. Middle English absent English absent From Middle English absent, from Middle French absent, from Old French ausent, and their source, Latin absens, present participle of absum (“to be away from”), from ab (“away”) + sum (“to be”).
In the absence of; without; except.
Absent taxes modern governments cannot function.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Italic *ap Latin abder. Latin ab- Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum Latin absum Latin absēnsder. Old French ausentder. Middle French absentbor. ▲ Latin absēnsbor. Middle English absent English absent From Middle English absent, from Middle French absent, from Old French ausent, and their source, Latin absens, present participle of absum (“to be away from”), from ab (“away”) + sum (“to be”).
To keep (oneself) away.
Most of the men are retired, jobless, or have otherwise temporarily absented themselves from the workplace.
To keep (someone) away.
Stay away; withdraw.
Leave.
To omit.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English absenten, from Old French absenter, from Late Latin absentāre (“keep away, be away”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.