as in missing
not present at a mandatory time and place
The soldier was AWOL for more than a week. "Where's Ben?" "I'm not sure—he's been AWOL all day."
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for AWOL
Adjective
-
During the search for the missing mother and daughter and Fieramusca, FBI agents followed Green.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
29 May 2026 -
When tube feet were severed, the wound margin was a mess of missing or fragmented epidermal and connective tissue.—
Jacek Krywko,
ArsTechnica,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Suddenly, photos, videos, or important documents are just… gone.—
StackCommerce Team,
PC Magazine,
15 May 2026
-
Room by room, the author takes us through the house, now long gone.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
A lot of kids’ parents don’t have time to sign out their kids, so they would be counted absent instead of truant, Hampton said.—
Doug Ross,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Apr. 2026
-
In a late January social media post, district officials said any student participating in a walkout would be considered truant and given an unexcused absence.—
Emily Donaldson,
San Antonio Express-News,
16 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The letter writer was 20, reeling and absent for mom’s final days.—
Carolyn Hax,
Washington Post,
8 June 2026
-
John Cohen, a former senior Homeland Security official who has been briefing state leaders before the matches, said the government was largely absent from planning meetings last year and did not begin sharing threat intelligence with host regions until recently.—
Jake Offenhartz,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2026
Adjective
-
The team’s board of directors approved the out-of-state move less than a week after the Illinois legislature adjourned without taking up a last-ditch Senate bill that would have allowed Arlington Heights or Chicago to enter into a public-private ownership deal with the NFL franchise.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
5 June 2026
-
Garcia-Hernandez was arrested on charges of theft of an elder adult, obtaining money by false pretenses, and attempted grand theft, along with an out-of-county warrant.—
Kassia Bonesteel,
CBS News,
4 June 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“AWOL.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/AWOL. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
