absence — OET

absence

noun

1 Derek gave Carol a flimsy excuse for his absence:

non-attendance, non-appearance, absenteeism;

truancy, playing truant, truanting;

leave, annual leave, vacation, sabbatical;

British holiday;

British, informal skiving, bunking off;

North American, informal playing hooky, goofing off, ditching;

Australian, New Zealand playing the wag, wagging.

▷antonyms presence, attendance.

2 the absence of a clear candidate was likely to result in civil war:

lack, want, non-existence, unavailability, deficiency, deprivation, dearth;

omission, exclusion, default;

need, privation, famine, drought, poverty.

▷antonyms presence, availability.

□ in the absence of

in the absence of glass, the traditional material was rice paper glued to a fine grille of wood:

failing, in default of, lacking, wanting, notwithstanding, without.

absence Oxford Dictionary of English