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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of truancy
Explanation
If you pretend you're sick to stay home from school and then sneak out to a baseball game, that's truancy, meaning it’s an unauthorized absence. In Middle English, truant — the root of truancy — referred to a vagabond or an idler. That meaning still holds true: if you’re accused of truancy, some may say you’re a vagabond or an idler — meaning you’re shirking your duties. Truancy can refer to any absence without permission, but it often refers to being absent from school. If you stay home from school without good reason, you might be hauled into the principal’s office to explain your truancy.
Vocabulary lists containing truancy
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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.
See Examples For:
A north London school has swapped truancy fines for parents for education awareness courses.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
Dr Summers says Luton has been trying to move away from seeing school absences as "defiance and truancy".
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025
Assembly Bill 461 would end the treatment of truancy as a crime under state law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2025
Older students faced fines or a suspended driver’s license for truancy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2025
“Now,” Auntie Aggie said, kissing me on each cheek, “go out there and tell that truancy man you’re ready to go to school.”
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
He was hospitalized three times for psychiatric issues and had repeated school suspensions, expulsions and truancies much of his life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2018
The reports detailed his history of special education classes and school truancies, as well as 26 juvenile arrests, psychiatric hospitalizations and medical diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood traumas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2016
Student identification badges will not only immediately show who belongs and who doesn't but also contain bar codes school administrators can instantly scan to show everything from previous tardiness and truancies to medical records.
From Time Magazine Archive
When students realized that attendance officers could not call home to check up on them, Hinsdale schools reported a sudden surge in truancies.
From Time Magazine Archive
But Arthur had the habit of the upper hand, and with a contemptuous fling at Clement's own truancies, took it now.
From Ovington's Bank by Stanley J. Weyman
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.
