different between absentee vs absently

English

Etymology

absent +? -ee

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?æb.sn??ti/
• Rhymes: -i?

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.]
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.]
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.]

Derived terms

• absentee ballot

Related terms

• absenteeism

Translations

Adjective

absentee (not comparable)

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

Translations

References

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “absentee”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• absentee in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “absentee” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

English

Etymology

absent +? -ly

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?æb.sn?t.li/

Adverb

absently (comparative more absently, superlative most absently)

1. In an absent-minded or abstracted manner. [From the late 18^th century.]
   • 1773, P.L.B., “A Character,” The Sentimental Magazine, June, 1773, p. 179,^[1]

     When he is in company he will sit absently muttering over a heap of Arabick, or in a Ciceronian attitude, declaim with all the vehemency of eloquence […]

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Phase the Fourth, Chapter 34,^[2]

     […] his wife, flinging a shawl round her, had come to the outer room and was listening to the man's narrative, her eyes resting absently on the luggage and the drops of rain glistening upon it.

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Penguin, 1992, Part One, Chapter 1, p. 38,^[3]

     Absently, he picked a dew-wet leaf from the hibiscus shrub, crushed it in his palm, put it in his mouth and came towards her, chewing.

Synonyms

• absent-mindedly
• abstractedly

Related terms

• absentee