absent-minded

American  

[ab-suhnt-mahyn-did] / ˈæb səntˈmaɪn dɪd /

Or absentminded

adjective

1. so lost in thought that one does not realize what one is doing, what is happening, etc.; preoccupied to the extent of being unaware of one's immediate surroundings.

   Synonyms:

   distracted, forgetful, dreamy, musing, withdrawn

   Antonyms:

   observant, heedful, alert, attentive

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absent-minded British  

adjective

1. preoccupied; forgetful; inattentive

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Related Words

Absent-minded, abstracted, oblivious all mean inattentive to immediate surroundings. Absent-minded suggests an unintentional wandering of the mind from the present: an absent-minded committee member. Abstracted implies that the mind has been drawn away from the immediate present by reflection upon some engrossing subject: an abstracted air. Oblivious implies absorption in some thought that causes one to be completely forgetful of or unaware of one's surroundings: oblivious of danger.

Other Word Forms

• absent-mindedly adverb
• absent-mindedness noun

Etymology

Origin of absent-minded

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Many women talk about having "pregnancy brain" or "baby brain", to describe feeling forgetful, absent-minded or having brain fog.

From BBC

Together, they wrote dozens of songs for Disney TV productions and movies such as “The Parent Trap,” “The Absent-Minded Professor,” “Summer Magic,” “That Darn Cat!,”

From Los Angeles Times

Shoot, today he was just in there and we didn’t have a good practice on offense, and some of the guys I think were a little bit absent-minded on practice.

From Seattle Times

She would cheerfully agree that her initial privilege had a lot to do with that: She grew up as the adored only daughter of, quite literally, an absent-minded Shakespeare professor, and if he was hardly the world’s most attentive father he gave her something not many women got in those days: the freedom and confidence to reinvent herself several times over and to narrate her own story on her own terms.

From Salon

THE FACTS: The European airport confirmed it does not have a desk for absent-minded holiday makers who set out for Sydney but wind up thousands of miles away in Salzburg.

From Seattle Times