Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

go AWOL

Cultural  

  1. To take unauthorized time off from work, school, or other duties: “Let's go AWOL and catch a baseball game this afternoon.” AWOL is an acronym for “absent without leave [permission].” The term originated with the military during World War I.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Can you take us inside James's head when he does go AWOL?

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2024

Hall didn’t seem the kind of person to go AWOL.

From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2016

Bergdahl isn’t the first soldier to go AWOL.

From The Guardian • Mar. 31, 2016

Angelique Borden, who spent nearly five years at the facility beginning in 2007, said the male residents often pressured the girls to go AWOL.

From Chicago Tribune • Dec. 5, 2014

I’m worried there’s some law about reporting homeschooled kids when they go AWOL.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.