/ English Dictionary

ABSENT

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lost in thought; showing preoccupation

Example:

the scatty glancing quality of a hyperactive but unfocused intelligence

Synonyms:

absent; absentminded; abstracted; scatty

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

inattentive (showing a lack of attention or care)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Nonexistent

Example:

her appetite was lacking

Synonyms:

absent; lacking; missing; wanting

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

nonexistent (not having existence or being or actuality)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not being in a specified place

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

away (not present; having left)

introuvable (impossible to find)

awol; truant (absent without permission)

Attribute:

presence (the state of being present; current existence)

Antonym:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

Derivation:

absence (failure to be present)

absence (the state of being absent)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Go away or leave

Example:

He absented himself

Synonyms:

absent; remove

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "absent" is one way to...):

disappear; go away; vanish (get lost, as without warning or explanation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

absence (failure to be present)

absentee (one that is absent or not in residence)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The researchers found that the protein, SPINK7, was nearly absent in esophageal biopsies taken from adults and children with active EoE but was prevalent in biopsies from healthy people.

(Eosinophilic esophagitis may be due to missing protein, National Institutes of Health)

Dominant breeders are typically absent for under two hours per year.

(Breeder meerkats age faster, but their subordinates still die younger, University of Cambridge)

However, this association was absent or rare in most other populations.

(Study of multiethnic genomes identifies 27 genetic variants associated with disease, National Institutes of Health)

When I saw that he was absent, I withdrew at once.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I have found a pleasure,” returned Agnes, smiling, “while you have been absent, in keeping everything as it used to be when we were children. For we were very happy then, I think.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was a card on the table, on which was written:— "I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me. D."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His face wore an absent expression, as of deep thought, and I became afraid that if his eyes did light upon me he would nevertheless not see me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

My father was absent from home at the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Elizabeth did not quit her room for a moment; nor were the other ladies often absent; the gentlemen being out, they had, in fact, nothing to do elsewhere.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

However, no single DNA variation was found to be present in 100 per cent of genomes from any major geographical region while being absent from all other regions.

(Global human genome study reveals our complex evolutionary history, University of Cambridge)

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