1.
If someone or something is ~ from a place or situation where they should be or where they usually are, they are not there.
He has been ~ from his desk for two weeks...
Any soldier failing to report would be considered ~ without leave and punished accordingly.
ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ from n
2.
If someone appears ~, they are not paying attention because they are thinking about something else.
‘Nothing,’ Rosie said in an ~ way.
ADJ
~ly
He nodded ~ly.
ADV
3.
An ~ parent does not live with his or her children.
...~ fathers who fail to pay towards the costs of looking after their children.
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
If you say that ~ one thing, another thing will happen, you mean that if the first thing does not happen, the second thing will happen. (AM FORMAL)
Absent a solution, people like Sue Godfrey will just keep on fighting.
= without
PREP