English

Noun

absentee ‎(plural absentees)

1. A person who is absent from his or her employment, school, post, duty, etc. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]^[1]
2. (chiefly Britain, historical) A landholder who lives in another district or country than the one in which his estate is situated. [First attested in the early 17^th century.]^[1]
   • 1840, Lord Byron, “Letter 374: to Mr. Moore (24 May 1820)”, in John Murray, editor, The Works of Lord Byron: With His Letters and Journals, and His Life, page 317:

     My trustees are going to lend Earl Blessington sixty thousand pounds (at six per cent.) on a Dublin mortgage. Only think of my becoming an Irish absentee!

3. One that is nonexistent or lacking.
4. A voter that is not present at the time of voting; absentee voter. [First attested in the early 20^th century.]^[1]

Related terms

• absenteeism

Translations

Adjective

absentee ‎(not comparable)

1. (attributive) Pertaining to one that is absent. [First attested in the mid 19^th century.]^[1]

Translations

References

• “absentee” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• absentee in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “absentee” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.

1. 1 2 3 4 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 8