Awol - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms

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SKIP TO CONTENT awol /ˈeɪwɒl/ IPA guide

If you're absent without permission, you're awol. Your mom may announce she'll be awol from work for the rest of the week, and that you can find her in the backyard lying in the hammock.

When a student is truant from school — simply doesn't show up, with no explanation or excuse — she is awol. Likewise, a volunteer at an animal shelter who skips his weekly shift is awol. This term is actually an acronym, an abbreviation of the military phrase "absent without leave." You'll often see it spelled in all capital letters: AWOL. The term became popular around World War II in the US military, and it caught on with civilians in the 1960s.

Definitions of awol

abbreviation absent without leave synonyms: AWOL
adjective absent without permission synonyms: AWOL, truant absent not being in a specified place
noun one who is away or absent without leave synonyms: AWOL see moresee less type of: absentee one that is absent or not in residence

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Vocabulary lists containing awol

Unwind Neal Shusterman

In this dystopian novel, sixteen-year-old Connor has been slated to be "unwound" and have his organs donated — until he runs away and joins up with two other fugitive teenagers.

"In Life and Leadership" by Colin Powell view more about the vocabulary list

Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers

After finishing high school, aspiring writer Richard Perry does not have the money for college, so he decides to enlist in the army and ends up fighting for his life in Vietnam.

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