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Absent vs Appear - What's the difference?

absent | appear |

As verbs the difference between absent and appear

is that absent is (transitive|now|reflexive) keep away; stay away; go away while appear is (label) to come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.

As an adjective absent

is (not comparable) being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing
.

As a noun absent

is (obsolete) absentee; a person who is away on occasion .

As a preposition absent

is (legal) in the absence of; without .

absent

English

Alternative forms

*

Etymology 1

* From (etyl) absent, (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • (not comparable) Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing.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
  • Expecting absent friends.
  • (not comparable) Not existing; lacking.
  • The part was rudimental or absent .
  • (sometimes, comparable) Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied.
  • * 1746-1747 , Chesterfield, Letters to his Son
  • What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man.
    Antonyms
    * present

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Absentee; a person who is away on occasion.
  • Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (legal) In the absence of; without.
  • * 1919 , State vs. Britt, Supreme Court of Missouri, Division 2, in The Southwestern Reporter , page 427
  • 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.
  • * 2011 , David Elstein, letter, London Review of Books , XXXIII.15:
  • 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)
  • (transitive, now, reflexive) Keep away; stay away; go away.
  • *
  • Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
  • * 1701-1703 , , "Remarks on Italy"
  • 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.
  • (obsolete) Stay away; withdraw.
  • (rare) Leave.
  • Anagrams

    *

    References

    English heteronyms ----

    appear

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.
  • * 1611 , (w) 1:9:
  • And Godthe dry land appear .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=(Jeremy Bernstein), volume=100, issue=2, page=146, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= A Palette of Particles , passage=There were also particles no one had predicted that just appeared . Five of them […, i]n order of increasing modernity, […] are the neutrino, the pi meson, the antiproton, the quark and the Higgs boson.}}
  • (label) To come before the public.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.}}
  • (label) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, or the like; to present one's self as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.
  • * 1611 , 5:10:
  • We must all appear before the judgment seat.
  • * (rfdate) (Thomas Babington Macaulay):
  • One ruffian escaped because no prosecutor dared to appear .
  • (label) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.
  • * 1611 , 3:2:
  • It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
  • * (rfdate) (John Milton):
  • Of their vain contest appeared no end.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]?  Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, magazine=(American Scientist)
  • , author= Philip J. Bushnell , title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance , passage=Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene,
  • To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.
  • * 1611 , (w) 6:16:
  • They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=5 citation , passage=Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.}}

    Usage notes

    * Senses 4, 5. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * (seem) look

    Antonyms

    * (to become visible) disappear, vanish