Definition
adjBeing away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.
Sentence Examples
Why were you absent yesterday?
You must not be absent from school.
He was absent from work for two weeks.
Word Origin & History
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 *bʰúHt
Proto-Italic *ezom~*som
Old 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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Expecting absent friends."
— 1623, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II-iii:
"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:
"That very sense of longing, of yearning for the absent, which 'nostalgia' conveys to us now."
— 1947, Cecil Day Lewis, Poetic Image:
"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: