• (RP) IPA: /ˈæb.sn̩t/
• (America) IPA: /ˈæb.sn̩t/, enPR: ăb'sənt

absent (comparative absenter, superlative absentest)

1. (not comparable) Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (not comparable) Not existing; lacking. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

   The part was rudimental or absent.

3. (sometimes, comparable) Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied. [First attested in the early 18^th century.]

• present

• absence
• absentee
• absenteeism
• absentia, in absentia

• French: absent
• German: abwesend
• Italian: assente
• Portuguese: ausente
• Russian: отсу́тствующий
• Spanish: ausente

• French: absent
• Italian: assente
• Portuguese: ausente, inexistente
• Spanish: ausente

• French: absent
• German: geistig abwesend
• Italian: assente
• Portuguese: ausente
• Russian: невнимательный
• Spanish: ausente, distraído

absent (plural absents)

1. (with definite article) Something absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there. [from 15th c.]
   • 1772, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 30 May:

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

   • 1947, Cecil Day Lewis, Poetic Image:

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

2. (obsolete) An absentee; a person who is not there. [15th–19th c.]

1. In the absence of; without; except. [First attested in the mid 20^th century.]

   Absent taxes modern governments cannot function.

• Portuguese: na ausência de

• (RP) IPA: /æbˈsɛnt/, enPR: ăbsĕnt'
• (America) IPA: /æbˈsɛnt/

absent (absents, present participle absenting; past and past participle absented)

1. anchor absentfrom(reflexive) To keep (oneself) away.

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

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 6, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473 ↗:

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

2. (transitive, archaic) To keep (someone) away. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

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

3. (intransitive, obsolete) Stay away; withdraw. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 18^th century.]
4. (transitive, rare) Leave. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

• German: fehlen, fernbleiben
• Portuguese: ausentar
• Spanish: ausentarse