(ecclesiastical) An absolving of sins from ecclesiastical penalties by an authority. / The forgiveness of sins, in a general sense. / The form of words by which a penitent is absolved.

Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure. / (obsolete) Concealed or hidden; secret.

(countable) That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction. / (uncountable) The quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment.

In an absent-minded or abstracted manner.

Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite.

One who abstains; a faster. / (usually capitalized, religion, historical) One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3rd century, and believed in abstinence from meat and sex.

(transitive, reflexive, obsolete) Keep or withhold oneself. / (intransitive) Refrain from (something or doing something); keep from doing, especially an indulgence.

A device which causes gas or vapor to be absorbed by a liquid. / (nuclear physics) A material that absorbs neutrons in a reactor. / A person who absorbs.

(not comparable) Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present; missing. / (not comparable) Not existing; lacking.

(with definite article) Something absent, especially absent people collectively; those who were or are not there. / (obsolete, Scotland) An absentee; a person who is not there.