French word

absenter

Pronunciation

IPA/apsɑ̃te/

Meaning

  • verbstep away

Example

Je dois m'absenter cinq minutes.

I have to step away for five minutes.

Illustration for absenter (step away)

More examples

Pour des raisons personnelles, il a dû s'absenter du travail.

For personal reasons, he had to be absent from work.

Core concept

Someone moves out of a place for a short interval and is temporarily unavailable there.

Common phrases

  • s'absenter du travail

    be absent from work

  • s'absenter pour des raisons personnelles

    be away from work for personal reasons

Similar words

partir: To set off from a place for another destination.
quitter: To leave someone, something, or a place behind.
sortir: To go out from indoors, including for a short outing.

Definition in French

Souvent employé à la forme pronominale, signifie quitter momentanément un lieu et être absent pour une courte durée.

Word origin

French formed absenter from the adjective absent by adding the regular -er verb ending, while absent comes from Latin absens, the participle of abesse, "to be away".

Usage tips

  • With a place, s'absenter commonly takes de: elle s'est absentée du bureau means that she briefly left the office.

Other meanings

  • be absentverb

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word