From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishabsentab‧sent1 /ˈæbsənt/ ●●● W2 adjective 1 HERETHEREnot at work, school, a meeting etc, because you are sick or decide not to go OPP presentabsent from students who are regularly absent from schoolRegisterIn everyday English, if someone is on holiday or on a business trip, people usually say that he/she is away: He's away at the moment. He’s gone to Hawaii.If you want to say that someone is not in a particular place, say not there:I called in to see her but she wasn't there.If you want to say that someone is not with you, say not here:I'm afraid he's not here at the moment. Can I take a message?2 if someone or something is absent, they are missing or not in the place where they are expected to beabsent parent/father plans to force absent fathers to pay child maintenanceabsent from Local women were conspicuously absent (=obviously not there) from the meeting.3 [only before noun]INTERESTED a look etc that is absent shows you are not paying attention to or thinking about what is happening → absently The dull, absent look on her face implied boredom.
Examples from the Corpus
absent• The seas and rivers, lakes and glaciers, are gone; the dynamic play of rain and liquid water is absent.• To capture the truth of the object then, the poem argues, the object must be absent.• The virus develops most quickly when antibodies are absent.• The degree of mental stimulation was absent.• The evidence for the next higher stage is not entirely absent but, in this case, it is indirect.• Matilda was still ranting and raving against the absent Earl for getting himself captured.• While the boss was absent everyone started taking very long lunchbreaks.• Mr Howe has no such reassurance, particularly with Gallacher absent for five games and no immediate sign of a return.• The Adkinson children were absent from school about a dozen times last fall.• The little birds had assumed the roles of birds that were absent from the area.• For some reason, Young's name was absent from the list.• If the rest of the sustaining biosphere were absent, gardens would wither.• If you're absent more than five times, you fail the course.absent from• Half of our students were absent from class today.• Absent from the book are any examples of how to solve the puzzles.absent parent/father• And following breakdown every effort should be made to ensure supportive continuity of contact between the child and the absent parent.• At fifteen he ran away to sea, pursuing the myth of his absent father.• Barras conducted a number of interviews that bear moving witness to the long shadow cast by absent fathers.• I knew little of psychology but enough to be aware of the impact on the unformed ego of an absent father.• There are many reasons why women might be unwilling to name the absent parent.• Requiring this investment will give absent fathers incentive to take a more active personal interest in their children as well.• In which case, may I suggest it is the absent father the authorities should be haranguing.• He cited a host of causes, from media violence to absent parents to drugs.absentab‧sent2 /əbˈsent, æb- $ æb-/ verb [transitive] formal → absent yourself (from something)→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
absent• I had not had the benefit of that lovely electricity for long, but how I did miss it when it absented itself.Origin absent1 (1300-1400) Old French Latin, present participle of abesse, from ab- “away” + esse “to be” 