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."
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for AWOL
Adjective
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The coroner's office confirmed that the remains, found on April 16, were confirmed to be Hicks' after obtaining dental records for him and another missing individual.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
16 May 2026 -
Rubin will play Louise Donnadieu, a working-class counselor at Camp Emerson whose life is upended when one of her young campers, Barbara, goes missing.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
Adjective
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Room by room, the author takes us through the house, now long gone.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
8 Feb. 2026
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Retaining Hall, 39, keeps one familiar face from Dart’s rookie year on the offensive side of the building for his second NFL season, with Brian Daboll, Mike Kafka and Shea Tierney all long gone.—
Pat Leonard,
New York Daily News,
31 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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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
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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
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The problem is not simply that these writers are absent from Parisian shelves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
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And whatever rifts had formed in his relationship with Altman were largely absent from social media.—
Ashley Capoot,Lora Kolodny,
CNBC,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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Vacation used to mean turning off the out-of-office.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
16 May 2026
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Dementia wasn’t on anyone’s list of immediate concerns, and Rob reasons that stress may be behind these out-of-character glitches.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
14 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“AWOL.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/AWOL. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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