absent

Word family

ab·sent1 /ˈæbsənt/ W2 adjectiveadj

1 HERETHEREnot at work, school, a meeting etc, because you are sick or decide not to go 缺席的，不在的 OPP present

absent from

students who are regularly absent from school

经常缺课的学生

In everyday English, if someone is on holiday or on a business trip, people usually say that he/she is away: 在日常英语中，如果某人在休假或出差，人们一般说he/she is away

He's away at the moment. He’s gone to Hawaii.

他现在不在，他到夏威夷去了。

If you want to say that someone is not in a particular place, say not there: 如果想表示某人不在某处，要说not there

I called in to see her but she wasn't there.

我去找她，但她不在。

If you want to say that someone is not with you, say not here: 如果想表示某人和你不在一起，要说not here

I'm afraid he's not here at the moment. Can I take a message?

对不起，他这会儿不在。要我记下留言吗？

2 if someone or something is absent, they are missing or not in the place where they are expected to be 缺乏的，不在场的

absent parent/father

plans to force absent fathers to pay child maintenance

强制不和小孩生活在一起的父亲支付抚养费的计划

absent from

Local women were conspicuously absent (=obviously not there) from the meeting.

当地妇女缺席会议，众目昭彰。

3 [only before noun]INTERESTED a look etc that is absent shows you are not paying attention to or thinking about what is happening 心不在焉的 → absently

The dull, absent look on her face implied boredom.

她脸上呆滞、茫然的神情说明她觉得无聊了。

Examples from the Corpus

absent• The seas and rivers, lakes and glaciers, are gone; the dynamic play of rain and liquid water is absent.• To capture the truth of the object then, the poem argues, the object must be absent.• The virus develops most quickly when antibodies are absent.• The degree of mental stimulation was absent.• The evidence for the next higher stage is not entirely absent but, in this case, it is indirect.• Matilda was still ranting and raving against the absent Earl for getting himself captured.• While the boss was absent everyone started taking very long lunchbreaks.• Mr Howe has no such reassurance, particularly with Gallacher absent for five games and no immediate sign of a return.• The Adkinson children were absent from school about a dozen times last fall.• The little birds had assumed the roles of birds that were absent from the area.• For some reason, Young's name was absent from the list.• If the rest of the sustaining biosphere were absent, gardens would wither.• If you're absent more than five times, you fail the course.

absent from• Half of our students were absent from class today.• Absent from the book are any examples of how to solve the puzzles.

absent parent/father• And following breakdown every effort should be made to ensure supportive continuity of contact between the child and the absent parent.• At fifteen he ran away to sea, pursuing the myth of his absent father.• Barras conducted a number of interviews that bear moving witness to the long shadow cast by absent fathers.• I knew little of psychology but enough to be aware of the impact on the unformed ego of an absent father.• There are many reasons why women might be unwilling to name the absent parent.• Requiring this investment will give absent fathers incentive to take a more active personal interest in their children as well.• In which case, may I suggest it is the absent father the authorities should be haranguing.• He cited a host of causes, from media violence to absent parents to drugs.

ab·sent2 /əbˈsent, æb- $ æb-/ verb [transitiveT] formal

absent yourself (from something) formal to not go to a place or take part in an event where people expect you to be 缺席，不参加

Examples from the Corpus

absent yourself (from something)• I had not had the benefit of that lovely electricity for long, but how I did miss it when it absented itself.• Lucy arranged to absent herself from the expedition to allow Maggie to be alone with Phillip.• I put my head down into my hands and absented myself mentally.• Equally, she was absent herself; naturally enough - she had been the photographer.• Detained patients absent themselves, or abscond, from hospitals.• His absence bloomed in her until she grew absent herself, preternaturally agreeable.• Kendall absented himself this time, as was only fitting.• It will not be desired to find all people who absent themselves without leave.

Examples from the Corpus

absent• I had not had the benefit of that lovely electricity for long, but how I did miss it when it absented itself.

Origin absent1

(1300-1400) Old French Latin, present participle of abesse, from ab- “away” + esse “to be”