Other forms: absented
Absent means not here. The teacher reads the register, gets no answer, and marks you absent. An absent colleague, an absent father, three absent members of the jury.
It also means missing from where it should be, as in safety rails were absent from the site, or warmth was absent from the letter. The noun is absence: an absence from work, or that famous line about absence making the heart grow fonder. Absent-minded describes somebody whose body is present and whose attention is not, with keys in the fridge and glasses on the head. There is a verb too, stressed on the second syllable, ab-SENT, and to absent yourself from a meeting is to stay away on purpose. Soldiers who go missing are absent without leave, shortened to AWOL.
1adjectiveabsentNot in the place where you are expected to be.
“Four pupils were absent on the day of the test.”
synonyms: away, missing
2adjectivelackingNot existing or not found in something.
“Any sense of humour was absent from his reply.”
synonyms: lacking, missing
3adjectivedistractedShowing that your mind is somewhere else.
“He gave an absent nod and kept reading.”
synonyms: distracted, vague
4verbstayTo stay away from a place or event on purpose. Formal, and used as absent yourself.
“She absented herself from the vote and left the building.”
Absent came through Old French ausent from Latin absens, the present participle of absum, to be away from. Absum is just two small pieces: ab, away, and sum, to be. So absent says, in the plainest terms, being away, and its opposite present is built out of the very same verb.
Latin
absēns
Old French
ausent
Middle French
absent
Middle English
absent
English, today
absent
Built from
From Middle English absent, from Middle French absent, from Old French ausent, from Latin absēns. From Middle English absent, from Middle French absent, from Old French ausent, and their source, Latin absens, present participle of absum (“to be away from”), from ab (“away”) + sum (“to be”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA