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absently. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
absently, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
absently in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
absent + -ly
Pronunciation
Adverb
absently (comparative more absently, superlative most absently)
- In an absent-minded or abstracted manner.
1773 June, P.L.B., “A Character”, in The Sentimental Magazine, page 179: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,
- 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, published 1992, Part One, Chapter 1, p. 38: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.
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