absence
state of being away or not being present: I acted as supervisor in his absence. Your absence was noted on the records.
period of being away: an absence of several weeks.
failure to attend or appear when expected.
lack; deficiency: the absence of proof.
inattentiveness; preoccupation; absent-mindedness: absence of mind.
Origin of absence
1Opposites for absence
Words Nearby absence
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use absence in a sentence
He’s had a player turn up with a “please excuse his absence from practice” note from a hotel clerk and wondered whether certain men were performing under the influence.
Kobe Bryant Punched A Teammate Over $100, And It Wasn’t Shaq | Jeff Pearlman | September 25, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightSteadman shared emails that hint at concern sweeping through CSL as employee absences shuttered entire centers.
Foreign Masks, Fear and a Fake Certification: Staff at CSL Plasma Say Conditions at Donation Centers Aren’t Safe | by J. David McSwane | September 21, 2020 | ProPublicaAt best, the absence of DEI metrics will damper efforts to achieve the ideals of stakeholder capitalism.
Companies must commit to equal pay to make stakeholder capitalism work | matthewheimer | September 18, 2020 | FortuneHigh rates of absence could slow ballot delivery in key states, especially if there’s a second wave of the coronavirus, as some epidemiologists predict.
Poorly Protected Postal Workers Are Catching COVID-19 by the Thousands. It’s One More Threat to Voting by Mail. | by Maryam Jameel and Ryan McCarthy | September 18, 2020 | ProPublicaThese organizations were able to test Twitter’s ad serving functions and create more branded content in the absence of live sports, particularly around short-form video.
‘An unprecedented period of Darwinian experimentation’: As sports return, Twitter eyes ad boost | Seb Joseph | September 18, 2020 | Digiday
How do you celebrate when happy occasions are colored by loss and absence?
Everyone at This Dinner Party Has Lost Someone | Samantha Levine | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the absence of cultural shifts, then, new reproductive technology might not matter as much for women as it would for men.
So filmmakers usually resort to a plot device to compensate for this absence.
In the absence of typical classrooms and curriculums, West Africans have opted for alternate methods of learning and education.
Courage, one recalls, is not the absence of fear but the ability to act in the face of it.
A characteristic which distinguished them and which impressed Mrs. Pontellier most forcibly was their entire absence of prudery.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinAnd the absence of paper and so forth, rendering notebooks costly and rare, made a large amount of memorizing necessary.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) WellsDuring his absence his own relations and the chief families in his town became the objects of persecution.
The Philippine Islands | John ForemanAnd the countess-dowager fanned herself complacently, and neither she nor Maude cared for the absence of a groomsman.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry WoodMamma has proposed to her—in view of your absence—to come and stay with us, and she does n't seem afraid of the idea.
Confidence | Henry James
British Dictionary definitions for absence
/ (ˈæbsəns) /
the state of being away
the time during which a person or thing is away
the fact of being without something; lack
Origin of absence
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with absence
In addition to the idiom beginning with absence
- absence makes the heart grow fonder
also see:
- conspicuous by its absence
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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