Absent vs Vague - What's the difference?
absent | vague |
(not comparable) Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing.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.
English heteronyms
----
Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
*
*2004: , Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
*:Throughout the first week of his presidency, Dulles and Bissell continued to brief Kennedy on their strategy for Cuba, but the men were vague and their meetings offered little in the way of hard facts.
Not having a precise meaning.
:
Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.
:
Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.
:
Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
Lacking expression; vacant.
Not sharply outlined; hazy.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title=
, passage=He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.}}
Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
*Sir (c.1564-1627)
*:to set upon the vague villains
*(John Keats) (1795-1821)
*:She danced along with vague , regardless eyes.
(obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
An indefinite expanse.
* Lowell
To wander; to roam; to stray.
* Holland
As verbs the difference between absent and vague
is that absent is (transitive|now|reflexive) keep away; stay away; go away while vague is .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is (not comparable) being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing .As a noun absent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)- 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.
Anagrams
*References
vague
English
Adjective
(er)“Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/2
Synonyms
* obscure * ambiguousNoun
(en noun)- (Holinshed)
- The gray vague of unsympathizing sea.
Verb
(vagu)- [The soul] doth vague and wander.
