absent

adj

1. (not-comparable)Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; existing but not present; (sometimes) missing.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.”

   “Expecting absent friends.”

2. (not-comparable)Not existing.

   “The body part was rudimentary or absent in 1% of specimens.”

   “Empathy seemed to be absent from the messages.”

   “Signs of forced entry were absent.”

3. (comparable)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   “Tom was there, but he seemed absent and withdrawn.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.”

   “What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man.”

   “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.”

noun

1. (with-definite-article)Something absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there.

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

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

2. (Scotland, obsolete)An absentee; a person who is not there.

prep

1. In the absence of; without; except.

   “Absent taxes modern governments cannot function.”

   “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.”

   “the Princess Caroline case […] established that – absent a measurable ‘public interest’ in publication – she was safe from being photographed while out shopping.”

   “About 25 percent of Russia’s large farms continue to be unprofitable, and that number would be considerably higher absent government subsidies and assistance programs.”

   “And the distraction-management software Freedom offers a mode that won’t unlock affected apps absent a telephone-support call.”

verb

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

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

   “If after due summons any member absents himself, he is to be fined.”

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

   “Some people expect that the news should be written "professionally," that it should conform to certain "journalistic standards," and that it should not "editorialize." And this is tantamount to saying it should be written objectively, that we should absent ourselves when writing copy.”

2. (archaic, transitive)To keep (someone) away.

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

3. (intransitive, obsolete)Stay away; withdraw.

   “The iron rule of the plantation, always passionately and violently enforced in that neighborhood, makes flogging the penalty of failing to be in the field before sunrise in the morning, unless special permission be given to the absenting slave.”

4. (rare, transitive)Leave.
5. (rare, transitive)To omit.

   “When we realize that the digitalisation of the image involves - by reducing and even absenting - the role of 'the physical', the 'sensuous' (by reducing and eventually absenting the indexical aspects of the image) […]”

   “Such sequences draw attention to the affective appeals that environmental documentary typically makes, precisely by absenting those appeals.”