Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: Latin, present participle of abesse, from ab- 'away' + esse 'to be'

absent

1 adjective
     
ab‧sent1
1 not at work, school, a meeting etc, because you are sick or decide not to go [≠ present]
absent from
students who are regularly absent from school
2 if someone or something is absent, they are missing or not in the place where they are expected to be
absent parent/father
plans to force absent fathers to pay child maintenance
absent from
Local women were conspicuously absent (=obviously not there) from the meeting.
3 [only before noun] a look etc that shows you are not paying attention to or thinking about what is happening [↪ absently]:
The dull, absent look on her face implied boredom.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

ADVERTISING AND MARKETINGANIMALSBANKING
BIOLOGYBUSINESS BASICSCOMPUTERS
CLOTHESDAILY LIFEEDUCATION
FINANCEFOODGRAMMAR
HAIR AND BEAUTYHUMANLAW
MUSICNATURESPORT
STOCKS AND SHARESTECHNOLOGYTRADE