esse, sent-, terest-
(Latin: to be)
2. The time during which someone is away: Manual has had an excessive number of absences from school this month.
3. That which is lacking or desired: Curtis was accused of having an absence of leadership as well as an absence of initiative.
4. A condition in which someone is inattentive or not paying attention: Catherine and Frances noticed that the periods of absences of their friend's mind seemed to be increasing.
5. Etymology: from Old Frence absence (14th century), from Latin absentia, absentem (nom. absens), present participle of abesse. "to be away from, to be absent"; from ab-, "away" + esse, "to be".
Sometimes it is also translated as, "Out of sight, out of mind." or "Absence does not make the heart grow fonder."
Karl wrote to his sweetheart that she shouldn't believe the old adage, Absens haeres non erit because I love you even more while you are away from me.
David gave Julia a very absent stare as if he didn't understand what she was saying.
A medical direction or instruction.
Used in law to refer to the defendant not being present or not available.
2. People who are not attending their employment, school, duty, etc.: The number of absentees at the factory was of concern to the managers.
The student leadership was upset about the number of absentees at the rally the day before.
The rates of absenteeism in the work force caused the factory to reduce production.
The explanations for a number of absenteeisms varied from headaches to injuries.
As a joke, the student club at the university decided to give an award to the most outstanding absenter, the one who missed most of his or her classes!
At the awards ceremony, there was a tie with two absenters because they were not present for the same number of times.
2. Descriptive of an individual who is lost in thought or shows a preoccupation with something else: The absentminded writer couldn't remember where he put his notes for the new chapter of his book.
Jesse, the scientist, appeared to be puttering around in his garden absentmindedly, but he was really distracted because he was thinking about a new scientific formula.
Jeff's absentmindedness caused him to be late because he took the wrong public transportation to work.
2. A preoccupation with something that is so great that the ordinary demands of attention on something else are ignored: Cheryl was so lost in her absentmindedness that she was unaware of where she was or what she was supposed to be doing there.Despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean "uninterested" or "having lost interest".
2. Etymology: from Latin dis-, "not, without" + interested, "it matters"; frominteresse, literally, "to be in the middle", from esse, "to be".