AWOL Synonyms: 16 Similar and Opposite Words

AWOL

adjective

Definition of AWOL

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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Recent Examples of Synonyms for AWOL

Adjective

As an episodic series, across the first several episodes, Anna investigates a murder, a bank robbery and a missing girl.

— Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026
In Season 2, a boxer on the rise named Danny Moon (Jin Ha) hires Sugar to find his missing, wayward brother, Ji-Seok (Raymond Lee).

— Ben Travers, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of missing

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

Definition of truant

Adjective

Coming up from a rough childhood with an absent father and addicted mother, Vanity Fair reported, Shakur combined a love of hip-hop and other performing arts with classical poetry and Shakespeare.

— Andy Rose, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
Even before his exit, workers described Hassabis as absent, especially compared to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who came out of retirement to help the company’s AI efforts.

— Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of absent

Adjective

Jack Westover had his best practice of training camp, keeping DeVito's two-minute drill alive with a fourth-down reception on an out route after snagging passes on consecutive dropbacks earlier in practice.

— Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 10 Aug. 2026
She was booked into the Graves County Restricted Custody Center before later being transferred to an out-of-county detention facility.

— Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of out

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awoken

AWOL

awry

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“AWOL.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/AWOL. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of AWOL

adjective

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Synonyms of AWOL

adjective

Example Sentences

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Figure Out These Acronyms ASAP

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

salvo

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

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Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

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