If someone appears absent, they are not paying attention because they are thinking about something else. `Nothing,' Rosie said in an absent way. + absently ab·sent·ly He nodded absently
An absent parent does not live with his or her children. absent fathers who fail to pay towards the costs of looking after their children
lost in thought; showing preoccupation; "an absent stare"; "an absentminded professer"; "the scatty glancing quality of a hyperactive but unfocused intelligence"
To take or withdraw (one's self) to such a distance as to prevent intercourse; used with the reflexive pronoun
If you say that absent one thing, another thing will happen, you mean that if the first thing does not happen, the second thing will happen. Absent a solution, people like Sue Godfrey will just keep on fighting. = without. absent yourself (from sth) to not go to a place or take part in an event where people expect you to be