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definitions

truant

[troo-uhnt]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR truant ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a student who stays away from school without permission.
a person who shirks or neglects his or her duty.

adjective

absent from school without permission.
neglectful of duty or responsibility; idle.
of, relating to, or characteristic of a truant.

verb (used without object)

to be truant.

Origin of truant

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French: vagrant, beggar < Celtic; compare Welsh truan wretched, wretch
Related formstru·ant·ly, adverbnon·tru·ant, noun, adjectiveun·tru·ant, adjective

Synonyms for truant

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR truant ON THESAURUS.COM
2. idler, shirker, layabout, loafer, malingerer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for truant

hooky, AWOL, no-show, malingerer, delinquent, deserter, shirker, runaway, astray, away, gone, missing

Examples from the Web for truant

Historical Examples of truant

  • A truant one, I fear, though you may have been born in London itself.

    Homeward Bound

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • I should like to inquire how his son, my truant protege', is going on.

  • Who shall say but the dove sigheth already for her truant mate?

    Sir Ludar

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • At that the truant driver appeared, coming at a trot from down the street.

    From Place to Place

    Irvin S. Cobb

  • I could see my mother looking from the window for her truant child.

    Ernest Linwood

    Caroline Lee Hentz

British Dictionary definitions for truant

truant

noun

a person who is absent without leave, esp from school

adjective

being or relating to a truant

verb

(intr) to play truant
Derived Formstruancy, noun

Word Origin for truant

C13: from Old French: vagabond, probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh truan miserable, Old Irish trōg wretched
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for truant
n.

early 13c., "beggar, vagabond," from Old French truant "beggar, rogue" (12c.), from Gaulish *trougant- (cf. Breton *truan, later truant "vagabond," Welsh truan "wretch," Gaelic truaghan "wretched"). Cf. Spanish truhan "buffoon," from same source. Meaning "one who wanders from an appointed place" is first attested mid-15c. The adjective is recorded from 1540s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper