a-, ab-, abs-

(Latin: prefix; from, away, away from)




You can greatly expand your word knowledge in this
and in all of the other word units.

absent (verb), absents; absented; absenting
To stay away from something: Debra and Amanda were absenting themselves from the meeting because of the weather.

Why did you absent yourself from the meeting yesterday?

With permission, Antonio, Danny, and Luis have absented themselves from attending the lecture at the university the next day.


absentee (s) (noun), absentees (pl)
1. Someone who is expected to be in a place or at an event, but who doesn't go: Virginia was the only absentee when the roll was called.
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.

absenteeism (s) (noun), absenteeisms (pl)



absenter (s) (nouns), absenters (pl)
Anyone who is not present or who is not in a certain place at a given time; a missing or nonexistent person: Shawn was an absenter who missed more classes than he attended.

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.

absentminded, absent-minded (adjective); more absentminded, more absent-minded; most absentminded, most absent-minded
1. Being preoccupied, forgetful, or careless as a result of some kind of distraction: It took the absent-minded man a long time to find his glasses which were on top of his head.
2. Lost in thought or showing a preoccupation with something else: The absentminded writer couldn't remember where he put his notes for the new chapter of his book.
absentmindedly (adverb), more absentmindedly, most absentmindedly
In a preoccupied manner or with unwarranted distraction of attention from the object of focus by irrelevant thoughts or some environmental events: Today Alice absentmindedly put orange juice in her breakfast coffee.

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.

absentmindedness, absent-mindedness (s) (noun) (no plural)
1. A low level of attention or an intense attention to a single object of focus that makes a person unaware of what is going on around him or her: Absentmindedness is clearly a part of everyone's life when something is merely inconvenient; such as, missing a familiar turnoff on the highway or some are very serious as when absentmindedness can cause accidents, injury, or even a loss of life.

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 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.
absolute (adjective) (not comparable)
4. Unconstrained by constitutional, a counterbalancing group, or other provisions, etc. in the exercise of governmental power; especially, when arbitrary or despotic: James was an absolute ruler in his position as the absolute monarch.
5. Not to be doubted or questioned; positive, certain: The police have absolute proof of Philip's guilt.

Logically, absolute terms cannot be compared, as with "more" and "most", or used with an "intensive modifier"; such as, "very" or "so" because something either is complete or it is not. It cannot be "more complete" than something else; consequently, sentences; such as, "Mike wanted to make his record collection more complete", and "Joyce can improve the sketch by making the lines more perpendicular", are often criticized as being illogical.

Complete and not mixed.
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absolutely (adverb) (not comparable)




Because new evidence had been discovered, Rick, the defendant was absolved of the criminal charge.

2. To forgive someone; especially, for a religious or moral fault: Mary asked the priest to please absolve her of her sins.


Bert was absolved of having to pay his partner's debts.

To set free from consequences of doing something.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
for a list of additional Mickey Bach illustrations.

absolver (s) (noun), absolvers (pl)
Someone who has authority to pronounce a person clear of guilt or blame: The priest was an absolver of the sins of Phillip who had strived to overcome his moral indiscretions and petty misdeeds.
absorb (verb), absorbs; absorbed; absorbing

The company absorbed the two smaller companies creating one large conglomerate.
