What is the difference between absence and absent?
absence | absent | Related terms |
A state of being away or withdrawn from a place or from companionship; the period of being away.
* (rfdate) (w) 2:12
Failure to be present where one is expected, wanted, or needed; nonattendance; deficiency.
* (rfdate) - Kent
Lack; deficiency; nonexistence.
Inattention to things present; abstraction (of mind).
* (rfdate), (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
* 1824-1829? , (w), (Imaginary Conversations)
(medical) Temporary loss or disruption of consciousness, with sudden onset and recovery, and common in epilepsy.
(fencing) Lack of contact between blades.
(not comparable) Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing.
* 1623 , (William Shakespeare), All’s Well That Ends Well, II-iii
(not comparable) Not existing; lacking.
(sometimes, comparable) Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied.
* 1746-1747 , Chesterfield, Letters to his Son
(legal) In the absence of; without.
* 1919 , State vs. Britt, Supreme Court of Missouri, Division 2, in The Southwestern Reporter , page 427
* 2011 , David Elstein, letter, London Review of Books , XXXIII.15:
(transitive, now, reflexive) Keep away; stay away; go away.
*
* 1701-1703 , , "Remarks on Italy"
*
(obsolete) Stay away; withdraw.
(rare) Leave.
Absent is a related term of absence.
As nouns the difference between absence and absent
is that absence is a state of being away or withdrawn from a place or from companionship; the period of being away while absent is absentee; a person who is away on occasion.As an adjective absent is
being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing.As a preposition absent is
in the absence of; without.As a verb absent is
keep away; stay away; go away.absence
English
Alternative forms
*Noun
(en-noun)- Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence .
- In the absence of conventional law.
- Reflecting on the little absences and distractions of mankind.
- To conquer that abstraction which is called absence .
Derived terms
* absence makes the heart grow fonderAntonyms
* (state of being away) presence * existence, possession, sufficiencyReferences
absent
English
Alternative forms
*Etymology 1
* From (etyl) absent, (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- Expecting absent friends.
- The part was rudimental or absent .
- What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man.
Antonyms
* presentPreposition
(English prepositions)- 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.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) absenter, from .Verb
(en verb)- Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
- 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.