Absent

a. [Fr. & Pr. absent, Lat. absens, p. pr. of absum, abesse, to be away from, from ab and sum, esse, to be.] 1. Withdrawn from, or not present in, a place. “Expecting absent friends.” Shak. 2. Inattentive to what is passing; heedless. What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man. Chesterfield. Syn. — ABSENT, ABSTRACTED. These words both imply a want of attention to surrounding objects, but for different causes. We speak of a man as absent when his thoughts wander from present scenes or topics of discourse; we speak of him as abstracted when his mind (usually for a brief period) is strongly drawn off to some remote object or train of thought, and is thus prevented from giving attention to what is going on around him. Absence of mind is usually the result of loose habits of thought; abstraction commonly arises either from engrossing interests and cares, or unfortunate habits of association.